Draft Grants to the Churches Conservation Trust Order 2026
(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)
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The Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Arts (Ian Murray)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Grants to the Churches Conservation Trust Order 2026.
It is great, as always, to see you in the Chair, Sir Desmond. I am pleased to be speaking to this order, which was laid before the House in draft on 28 January 2026 and requires that the Government continue to provide funding for the Churches Conservation Trust, or CCT.
The CCT, which was established by legislation in 1969 as the Redundant Churches Fund, is a charity aimed at protecting an essential part of our national heritage. It demonstrates a successful partnership between Church, Government and communities. The CCT plays a crucial role in caring for some of the most architecturally impressive churches no longer required for regular worship. It currently cares for more than 350 churches in towns, villages and cities across England, all of which are listed, mostly at grades I and II, and some of which are scheduled ancient monuments. The CCT’s collection showcases how historical buildings can be brought back to life creatively to continue to serve the communities that they were built for, once they are no longer required for their original use.
Historical places of worship are a valued part of this nation’s heritage. Around 45% of all grade I listed buildings are Church of England churches or cathedrals, and they represent some of the finest examples of our historical buildings, heritage and exceptional craftsmanship. Those buildings are also often at the heart of communities, admired by visitors and beloved by residents. The CCT’s work is crucial to ensuring that they can be kept open and enjoyed as cultural, social, tourism and educational assets. Working in partnership with local communities is key to achieving that, as collaboration helps to secure the futures of historical places of worship as living, useful buildings that continue to contribute to the social fabric of their local places.
That approach was recently demonstrated at St Torney’s in North Hill, Cornwall, the newest addition to the CCT’s portfolio. The CCT took one of the last remaining community buildings in an isolated village on the edge of Bodmin moor and turned it into a hive of community activity, hosting art shows, music, talks, children’s activities and much more. Close consultation with local residents was paramount to the success of the project, which continues to be successful. Other recent notable successes include the CCT’s work to conserve the internationally important stained glass in St Mary’s in Shrewsbury, again in close consultation with the local community, which is critical.
The CCT recognises the importance of passing down traditional heritage skills to the next generation and building expertise in skills. Through its successful heritage skills summer programme, run jointly with Historic England, the CCT provides high-level repairs to the grade II listed St John’s church in Lancaster while helping to train a cohort of young people in the craft skills needed to take care of historical churches.
Closer to home, last year saw the CCT move into its new headquarters at the Old Black Lion in Northampton. Following an innovative regeneration project, that unique space combines the fantastic revitalised historical pub with St Peter’s church, in what is the crown jewel of the CCT’s estate and its new national office. Through the Old Black Lion project, the CCT is contributing to Northampton’s wider regeneration, investing more than £2 million in the town’s most deprived wards.
The CCT is supported by funding from both the Church of England and the Government—the Government are providing more than £3 million in the current financial year. It has also sought to diversify its income streams to multiply its core funding, so it can further support its activity at a time of public funding pressures. This debate takes place at a pivotal time for the funding of places of worship: to make a lasting difference to historical places of worship, this Government are shifting towards capital funding and will invest more than £90 million over the next four years, with the launch of the places of worship renewal fund.
That new fund, which was announced in January, will allow for longer term planning, enabling us to target resources at the areas that are most in need, particularly areas with double disadvantage. In 2025, the CCT launched its new strategy, which is designed to guide the charity’s work for the next five years. Under the strategy, the CCT will focus on three interdependent principles: conservation, community and creativity. It will work with local communities both to conserve the historical fabric of churches, and to find creative new ways to reimagine such places.
This order allows the Government to continue to provide funding to support the CCT and enable it to continue its work in giving future life to the historical places of worship in its care. The instrument covers three years, providing the CCT with certainty about Government funding support for this period and helping it plan its activities with confidence. The funding will allow the CCT to continue to conserve the fabric of one of the largest collections of highly listed buildings in the country, keeping them open, for free, to everyone of all faiths and none.
I hope that Committee members share my enthusiasm for the important work done by the CCT, and recognise the key role that it plays in preserving and promoting a vital aspect of our nation’s heritage. I hope that they will approve the draft order, which will provide for the CCT from 2026 to 2029, and I commend it to the Committee.
Ian Murray
I thank the Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee and the shadow Minister for their contributions. First, I will deal with some of the questions about the listed places of worship scheme.
The replacement scheme will be a £92 million fund over the next four years, which is actually an increase in funding over what was available on the VAT reclaim scheme, because it is England only and not a UK-wide scheme, therefore only eligible in England. There are no Barnett consequentials to that for Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales, because the scheme is the Department spending budget that has already been Barnettised through the spending review. In the case of Scotland, while I know there has been a lot of discussion from Scottish Members about this, it is up to the Scottish Government to determine how they spend the spending review Barnett consequential. There is no Barnett on this allocation of budget.
The CCT should be able to apply for the places of worship renewal fund, as it can already for the listed places of worship fund, as the shadow Minister laid out. In terms of when, I can confirm it will be soon—as hon. Members know, “soon” in Government terms is anything between 1 January and 31 December, but it actually will be soon, because we acknowledge that people are a little bit in limbo here.
The reason the scheme was closed—to answer one of the questions put to me—was because 80% of the projects that were brought forward said that the work would go ahead regardless, and another 15% on top of that said that the work would have gone ahead on time and on budget, so the public purse was funding stuff that was already happening. The fact that we have gone to the new grant system means that people will be able to apply for more funding in that sense. In the past there was a £25,000 cap, and the average spend was between £3,000 and £5,000—quite small amounts of money in terms of VAT reclaim.
We encourage the heritage sector—the CCT and otherwise—to come forward with projects as soon as the criteria are announced. The fund sits under the umbrella of the £1.5 billion that DCMS announced last month for arts, heritage, museums and places of worship, so there is a lot of money going into the sector, and the sector has welcomed that. I think that answers all the questions, unless anyone would like to come back to me on that.
There is eligibility for places of worship and former places of worship—CCT places—to apply for heritage at risk funding if they fall into that category. Recently, half a million was announced for repair work to St Catherine of Siena Church and more than £250,000 for emergency repairs at St Michael’s in Birmingham, because they are both sites classed as heritage at risk. There are other avenues of funding, so I encourage the custodians of churches to come forward if they need any advice on finding the best model for them.
Government funding for CCT, along with funding from the Church of England, is crucial to the heritage sector, enabling these remarkable buildings of cultural significance to remain open and in good repair, serving the communities for which they were originally built. I want to pass on my thanks to the trustees and staff at the CCT, and all the individual volunteers who keep these buildings going in a time of need. There is a positive outlook for historical places of worship under the Government’s new funding and with the CCT’s new strategy.
Question put and agreed to.