Churches urged to make use of VAT scheme
Suffolk Churches are being urged to submit applications for the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme even if they are unsure how much they will get.
Faith in Maintenance project director Sara Crofts told delegates on a FiM course at Wickhambrook All Saints last week that the first payment round of the newly capped scheme paid out 72.7% of the cost of VAT, not the 100% of previous years, but still a help.
‘And Government experts say over time it will amount to over 90% so the scheme was definitely worth saving,’ she said.
This will come as a boost to almost 10,000 people in this diocese who last year signed the petition to Save Our Scheme, backed by writer and TV presenter Griff Rhys Jones.
Delegates on the day-long course were reminded by Ms Crofts, architect and specialist in historic building conservation, that nothing related to church buildings is ever maintenance free.
‘‘It is just about good housekeeping and looking after the resources we have. It is cheaper to deal with a few slipped tiles for a few hundred pounds than a few thousand later on for roof repairs,’ she said.
Delegates were reminded that getting water away from the building is one of the first principles.
‘If the water isn’t getting away from the building, where is it going? Most probably into the timber at the top of the wall. And obviously if the wall is green the water is not going down the downpipe.’
Other subjects on the agenda included the need to keep gulleys and drains clear and Ms Crofts said the diocese was fortunate to have the Elix maintenance scheme that churches could join. She later spoke on health and safety and pointed out that cherry pickers were far safer than ladders for working at height.
Ms Crofts also flagged up the importance of quinquennial inspections. ‘They are a tool to help you look after your building and they help you to put your resources where it matters most,’ she said.
On the faculty process, she said it was worth remembering (when it comes to developing church buildings) that the Chancellor was biased towards the needs of churches, whereas the secular system would not be. ‘Work with the process and you’ll get more from it,’ she said.
This is the final year of the award-winning Faith in Maintenance scheme, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage. It has helped thousands of volunteers look after their historic places of worship over the past five years.
The next idea from SPAB, following on from Faith in Maintenance, is to create and support a series of ‘local maintenance networks’ to encourage volunteers in a given geographical area to work together to tackle the problems of looking after historic buildings.
If the bid for lottery and other funding is successful, work is expected to start in March 2012. Suffolk is not listed as a target area but will be encouraged to set up its own local maintenance networks which will be supported by the project manager and technical staff at SPAB.
Published by the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and reproduced with permission
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