Asked by: Lord Bishop of Bristol (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Historic England register Heritage at Risk, published on 9 November, what steps they are taking to support, repair and maintain new entries on that register.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Once a new entry is added to the Heritage at Risk Register, Historic England offers public funding for the repair and conservation of the asset at risk. It focuses its grants on those sites which are most in need of repair and which, without additional investment, would be at risk of deterioration. The National Lottery Heritage Fund will also factor the Heritage at Risk Register into its assessments of applications for its National Lottery Grants for Heritage. The work supported by such funding results in assets at risk being taken off the register – including, this year, ecclesiastical heritage sites such as Sheerness Dockyard Church, Sheffield General Cemetery, and St. John The Evangelist, Rutland.
Historic England offers grants to enable churches to employ support officers, who work locally to help those responsible for places of worship which are at risk to plan repairs, manage projects, and fundraise. Since 2008, more than 40 posts have been funded through this programme.
Historic England also works with other bodies which award grants to help avert harm to our heritage, advising them on where to focus their resources so that they have the greatest impact for historic places and the people that benefit from them. Partnerships with owners, organisations, local authorities, and community groups are vital in making these projects successful.