Churches Tourism Association

Unless the Government takes action, historic church buildings will soon lose the right to a special VAT refund on repairs, which will push up the net cost of repairs by 20% and threaten the future viability of some churches. Please act now to support this campaign: see how to do this on the Church Care website.

The new Government has also closed the online petition system, with the loss of 9,000 signatures collected in support of this campaign before the General Election.  It is therefore all the more important to write to local MPs to stress the need for this scheme.

The Church Care website offers more details of the campaign to save the scheme, including news of an Early Day Motion (signed by 16 MPs) and a downloadable letter for MPs here.

Please support the campaign by sending a letter to your MP!To learn more about the LPWGS see www.lpwscheme.org.uk  

A new report commissioned by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) reveals for the first time the scale of the heritage tourism industry in the UK, estimating its gross domestic product (GDP) contribution to be £20.6 billion. This research establishes that heritage tourism makes a bigger contribution to UK GDP than advertising, car manufacturing or the film industry.

CTA comment: given that churches represent about half of all Grade I Listed buildings, and that 51% of tourists make visits to churches (according to VisitEngland data), it is disappointing that the words ‘religious’ and ‘faith’ occur only once each in the general introduction, and no reference is made to ‘churches’, ‘places of worship’ or ‘sacred’ buildings in the 44-page document.