Alok Sharma, the Member of Parliament for Reading West, has written to places of worship, including churches, mosques, temples, gurdwaras and synagogues serving his constituency to make them aware of a new £15million fund for the repair of roofs and guttering on vulnerable listed places of worship.
The scheme, which was announced on 3 December, as part of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, will provide grants of between £10,000 and £100,000 to listed places of worship of all faiths and denominations, where roof and rainwater goods repairs are deemed to be urgent and necessary.
Applications for a grant must be made by midday on 30 January 2015, with awards to be allocated by the end of March 2015.
The scheme will be administered by the National Heritage Memorial Fund on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Further information about the scheme is available online by visiting www.nhmf.org.uk and clicking on the link to the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund. Any enquiries can be made by email to [email protected] or telephone 01392 223 979.
Alok Sharma told Asian Voice: “I absolutely welcome this new fund announced in the government’s Autumn Statement for fixing roofs of vulnerable places of worship, which will help ensure some of our most significant buildings remain open as safe and sustainable places in our communities. I have written to all the places of worship serving my constituency to make them aware of this new scheme and I hope that some of them will be able to take advantage of the extra money available.”
