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Gordon Brown’s new grant scheme for historic places of worship has been described as a mixed blessing by Leicester Cathedral’s Treasurer, Canon Michael Wilson.
The grant scheme for the repair of historic places of worship came into effect from April 1 2001, and is in place of Gordon Brown’s pre-budget plan to reduce VAT on all repairs, a review which will not be considered by the EU Commission until 2003.
Describing the scheme as a ‘halfway house’, Canon Wilson said: “Whilst this is a good interim measure, the ideal solution would be to push further the plan to abolish VAT altogether for the repair of places of religious importance.”
“All Christian Churches in the UK have been lobbying successive governments through the Churches’ Main Committee, in an attempt to reduce or abolish VAT for church repairs. This has always been met with resistance until now and I am very grateful that there has been something of a breakthrough, but more can be done.”
Any reduction in the cost of restoration of places of worship should also help the heritage industry, but according to Tony Youngjohns, Finance Director of internationally renowned lead roofing and stained glass specialists, Norman & Underwood, this may not be the case:
“In practice the grant scheme should reduce the overall cost of any restoration work by around 10%, but this is not as great a saving for churches as the removal of VAT, and currently there would appear to be no guarantee that the Commission will even agree to a reduced rate of VAT.”
“As a company, we are unlikely to benefit greatly from these proposals, as this industry is still restricted by the fact that buildings of worship must still find the other 90% of their repair funds.
“High profile buildings that we have worked on such as St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey are more likely to have the means to generate their own funds for repair, but smaller churches and in some cases city cathedrals, would greatly benefit from the complete abolition of VAT,” he concludes.
Canon Wilson also hints that a change in the attitude of future UK Governments could be the answer to the problem, he states:
“Gordon Brown may know better than I do, whether or not other EU Governments extend greater kindness to their religious communities by not asking them for a tax ‘rake off’ each time they repair or improve their religious buildings and shrines.”
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