Conditions
of Grant or Loan Assistance
(See also Guidance on Work Eligible for Grant Assistance - below)
1. Grants or Loans towards the cost of restoring Dorset Church buildings are made in order to maintain the structure, and on some occasions other items of significant historical and architectural interest, in good repair. Applications are to be made to the Deanery Representative of the Trust in the area in which the Church is located.
2. The Trust will consider applications for all Christian churches and chapels which are used for public worship that are of historic or architectural merit and are older than 50 years from the present day, provided that they have not been, or are not intended for conversion to non-ecclesiastical use.
3. Grants or Loans will normally NOT be made for works of modernization, alteration, improvement, or demolition except where a prerequisite to make the building more suitable for community use or where rebuilding is necessary in cases of structural instability. The intention of grant-aid is to assist in the sympathetic repair of historic churches and chapels or the historic memorials and features therein to a standard that their architectural value merits and ensure their continued use by the communities that they serve.
4. A Grant or Loan cannot be made for repairs started or carried out before the application has been made, excepting where prior permission to begin has been explicitly given by the Trust in exceptional cases where the works are urgent. In such cases application should be made through the Deanery Representative to the Secretary of the Trust who may authorise an interim loan after informing the Chairman and the Treasurer.
5. It is a strict condition that all statutory approvals have or will be obtained for the Works under consideration; this includes where applicable a Faculty, or approval of the appropriate body for non-Anglican places of worship, Listed Building Consent, Planning Permission or Building Regulation Approval. The necessary permissions must be obtained BEFORE work commences, and preferably before application is made to the Trust. The Trustees cannot support illegal works and if permission has not been obtained grant or loan payments will NOT be made.
6. The Trust expects that in all cases competent professional advice, usually from a qualified Church Architect or Surveyor, will be sought.
7. Grants or Loans normally only cover a modest proportion of the cost of repairs, and the church or chapel is expected to make a substantial contribution. Grants will be paid only after completion of the works on submission to the Treasurer of a receipted bill or Architects completion certificate. The Trust reserves the right to refuse or delay payment where doubt exists over the completion of the works to a satisfactory standard.
8. The Trust reserves the right to use photographs and descriptive material of grant-aided works in any publicity that they choose to produce and expects the applicants to co-operate with the Trust for the production of such publicity. The Trust encourages Churches that have benefited from a Grant to run a fund raising event for the Trust within the three years following payment of the grant. The Trust also encourages these Churches to ensure that they are open and manned on the day of the annual Historic Churches Trust Cycle Ride each September. Preference for the allocation of Grants and Loans will normally be given to applicants with a past record of support for the Trust through gifts or participation in the annual Cycle Ride.
9. The offer of a Grant or Loan is valid for three years from the date of acceptance by the applicants. Renewal may be possible after this period provided that the applicants state reasons, in writing, to the Trustees why the grant has not been taken-up and why the grant is still required.
10. All applications for Grants or Loans are to be submitted on a Dorset Historic Churches Trust application form, with all questions answered together with copies of the audited financial accounts for the last year for the organisation responsible for the building.
11. In some special cases the Trustees may consider an application to convert a loan to a grant before the final repayment date.
12. Grants or Loans are made entirely at the discretion of the Trustees of the Dorset Historic Churches Trust and their decision on the matter is final.
Guidance on Work Eligible for Grant Assistance
Our primary interest is funding assistance for repairs to keepchurches weatherproof and in public use for worship. Inaddition, we sometimes grant aid improvements such asreordering to prolong or extend the use of the building. We do not normally grant-aid work on “fittings” such as organs, furniture, memorials, monuments, bells, or electrical equipment beyond basic heating or lighting. However, casesof exceptional merit or need will be considered for our support if funds are available.
All forms of essential repair to the building's fabric; eg roofs, stone/brickwork, repointing, structural repair, floors, doors, windows, internal wall plaster, gutters,parapets, pinnacles, lightning conductors, etc.
Works to rainwater goods, groundwater drainage, soakaways, etc.
Most repairs to historic fittings, eg stained glass, monuments of significant importance, structures such as sundials, crosses, and so forth.
Major electrical works, ie total rewiring required for the safety of the building but not for new lighting or small-scale works below £5,000.
Major schemes of redecoration only where this is a particular historic feature of the building noted in the listing records.
Not Eligible
Works of routine maintenance and redecoration.
Disabled Access within or without the building.
New buildings, extensions.
Routine electrical work (new switches, lights, cables for new installations)
New furniture or furnishings.
New
Bells or
The replacement or repair of organs, clocks and sound systems.
ANY
WORK THAT HAS ALREADY STARTED OR BEEN COMPLETED
Grant-aid is made entirely at the discretion of the Trustees and their
decision on the matter is final.
