Protecting built heritage

Status / emerging findings

• Heritage sector faces acute structural crisis: English Heritage has no dedicated preventative maintenance funding; 75% of heritage assets estimated to be run by volunteer-led charities with no formal support; 35% decline in heritage conservation staff in local planning authorities over 15 years.
• Funding landscape is fundamentally broken: project-based grants dominate despite universal expert agreement that long-term revenue funding is essential; English Heritage's £15m grants fund is 10x oversubscribed; churches spend £1bn annually on maintenance yet fewer are being removed from at-risk registers since 2017.
• Government's new £230m heritage allocation (from £1.5bn cultural package) shifts from VAT relief on repairs to needs-based grants targeting 'double disadvantage' areas—major policy change that will end VAT relief scheme by end of financial year, replacing it with £90m Places of Worship Renewal Fund.
• Critical skills shortage extends beyond conservation specialists to governance, business planning, and digital capabilities; no consolidated funding advice exists for volunteers; local authorities have become risk-averse and increasingly reliant on external consultants.
• Partnership-based and place-based funding models show promise (Heritage Development Trust, 88% of Architectural Heritage Fund recipients still own buildings after 10 years), but remain exception rather than norm in a fragmented grants landscape.

Why it matters

Without intervention, thousands of historic buildings will be lost to neglect within a decade—particularly smaller assets and churches in rural/deprived areas run entirely by volunteers—and local planning expertise will disappear, making heritage decisions arbitrary and inconsistent across England.

Tone arc

Inquiry opened as procedural assessment of funding mechanisms and evolved into urgent problem-statement inquiry; early sessions (June–July 2025) documented volunteer burnout and funding chaos; by January 2026, focus shifted to systemic failure across government property management and skills infrastructure; final session (February 2026) centred on tension between equity-based allocation (new government approach) and heritage-preservation outcomes.

Key witnesses

Emma Squire CBE (Co-Chief Executive, Historic England), Ian Morrison OBE (Director of Policy and Evidence, Historic England), Emily Gee (Church of England), Reverend Paula Griffiths (heritage sector, church sector), Hilary McGrady (National Trust/heritage leadership), Eilish McGuinness (National Lottery Heritage Fund), Baroness Twycross (Minister for Museums, Heritage and Gambling), Mark Chivers (Government Chief Property Officer)