黑洞社区

Chancellor George Osborne has announced an extra 拢30m to fund alterations and repairs of church buildings following a backlash over VAT changes in the Budget.

The Budget announced that the zero-rating that currently applies to approved alterations to listed buildings would be removed and with the 20% rate applying from this October.

But following sustained criticism from the Church of England and heritage groups, the Chancellor yesterday announced that the 拢12m Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme would be increased by 拢30 million in order to mitigate the impact of this move.

The Church of England welcomed the announcement but the National Trust called it 鈥渇undamentally misguided鈥� because it will not benefit secular listed buildings.

Ben Cowell, the Trust鈥檚 deputy director of external affairs, said: 鈥淟isted buildings are by definition public goods. They help to create distinctive and special places and contribute hugely to our tourist economy, which is one of the biggest creators of jobs and growth in the country.

鈥淲hile no-one would pretend that the current VAT regime is straightforward, the proposal to eliminate the zero-rating for approved alterations will cause considerable harm. It is also likely to strike a major blow to the conservation industry, reducing the amount of work that is undertaken on listed buildings up and down the country.

鈥淚ncreasing the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme is welcome but by itself is not enough, as it only provides retrospective compensation to help meet the needs of religious buildings and does nothing for the thousands of secular listed buildings鈥�

But Bishop of London the Right Reverend Richard Chartres applauded the government鈥檚 latest move, calling it 鈥漴ecognition of the massive contribution made by congregations up and down the land to the life of their communities鈥�.