Experts to help decaying churches
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/7778814.stm Version 0 of 1. A team of conservation specialists is to be created to help preserve England's stock of historic churches. Thousands of church buildings - many of them medieval in origin - are at risk of decay as dwindling congregations struggle to maintain them. Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has announced that £1.5m is to part-fund 30 support officers to advise owners of historic churches about their upkeep. Church leaders welcomed the funding, which comes via English Heritage. English Heritage advises ministers about how best to preserve historic assets and the support officers will help individual congregations identify their church's most urgent repairs and prevent more costly deterioration. The Church of England alone has 12,000 parish churches listed as architecturally important, most of which date from the Middle Ages and are expensive to maintain. 'Finest built heritage' Church groups have warned that as congregations diminish, they are likely to be declared redundant at an increasing rate and that precious national assets will be lost. English Heritage chief executive Simon Thurley said: "We have churches which perhaps were built in 1300 or 1400, they've got a lot of medieval stone work, they've got very complicated roofs with very complicated gutters. "It is really quite a big challenge for a congregation of perhaps less than 20 people, many of whom are retired, to maintain and look after and repair such a building." Mr Burnham said places of worship represented "the finest of the country's built heritage" and pulled communities together. Major impact He said the scheme was about helping such landmarks to survive. "The support officers scheme will have a major impact on the preservation and appropriate use of our magnificent places of worship," he said. Janet Gough, the Church of England director responsible for its church buildings, said: "These support officers will help congregations to maintain and improve their buildings not only as centres of worship but also as centres of community and voluntary activities." The three-year funding will pay for the conservation officers to work with congregations of all faiths, in the hope that they will later be taken on by bodies which own church buildings. |