National Lottery

Lord Beith Excerpts

Monday 16th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Beith (LD)]

I intervene briefly in this debate, so well introduced by the noble Earl, with whose key points I very much agree. I also very much agree with the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, who has done so much work in this area. In intervening, I declare my interest as president of the Historic Chapels Trust and the North of England Civic Trust, both of which have been able to save distinguished buildings and make them available for wider community use, thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund. I am also chair of the heritage committee of the Methodist Church.

As the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, said, we are in a very difficult funding environment with severe constraints on all the other key sources of funds for this kind of work, especially Historic England—in passing I must pay tribute to the help that it is giving the Historic Chapels Trust to seek a good administrative basis by working with the Churches Conservation Trust. Funding from local authorities is now under the most severe pressure and rarely available. As the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, indicated, European funding streams are threatened. This leaves the Heritage Lottery Fund expected to do much of the heavy lifting of capital funding with much reduced resources.

It also raises the question of what happened to the concept of additionality and the view that was very strongly expressed when the lottery was introduced. It was going to enable us to do things which public funding could not normally finance. It has done many of those things, but it has crept increasingly into the gap left by the withdrawal of traditional public funding, particularly in local government care for the main buildings of a community. There is the added problem—this is not a criticism—that the policy objectives of HLF involve wider community use. This is quite understandable but it can limit the kind of project that can be undertaken at a time when it is virtually the only funder still on the scene. This poses a risk to some buildings and artefacts of exceptional aesthetic importance which are limited in their potential for wider community use and involvement.

Most of the time, there is no real conflict between the preservation and restoration of landmark buildings and the promotion of healthy communities. People attach enormous value to the buildings and places that have mattered in their lives and those of their ancestors, and which tell the story of their community. A community that loses its landmark buildings has its sense of deprivation further increased. We see that very much in some areas where the loss of buildings has been great and there is also significant deprivation.

It has been my privilege to support, and see the results of, great projects part-funded by the lottery. It is a moving experience to see the joy on people’s faces when buildings they thought they were going to lose are now available to them to use. This is cultural capital, wisely used. I recognise some of the issues raised by the noble Earl, but it cannot be left entirely to the lottery to fund things that matter in our society and are of beauty and quality. It has developed a valued role, but there are responsibilities that still rest with the Government and agencies such as DCMS, Historic England and others. They should take their share and be enabled to do so by public funding.