Carole Souter, Chief Executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), welcomed English Heritage’s ‘Caring for Places of Worship’ report, and said that HLF would be considering how it might respond to the challenges set out in the report in the light of its expectation of increased funding in future years.

 
“HLF welcomes English Heritage’s publication of the ‘Caring for Places of Worship’ report. This valuable research comes just at the perfect time. It increases our understanding of current need and will influence how we distribute the additional money we expect to receive as a result of the change in Lottery shares, on which the Government is currently consulting.

“We’ve always seen places of worship as absolutely central to our national heritage, identity and culture and have already committed considerable investment through both the joint scheme with English Heritage and our wider investment across the UK. 

“The report reveals considerable progress but also highlights the huge scale of investment needed to protect the one in ten historic places of worship that are at still risk in England.”