HLF has announced an overall budget of £250m for new grants next financial year (March 2011-12) – £45m more than the budget for the current year.
This news is the result of the recently confirmed increase in the share of Lottery funding available for heritage¹ and continuing healthy National Lottery ticket sales. HLF’s Trustees have decided now to allocate £17m of this substantial additional resource to four programmes. This will give a boost to communities and to important parts of the historic environment during these tough economic times.
Announcing the plans now will also give customers as much time as possible to develop their applications.
The following budgets have been agreed:
- £11m for Townscape Heritage Initiative – for grants that help regenerate historic areas with particular social and economic need (£500,000 to £2m) – an increase of £1m on 2010-11 budget.
- £23m for repair grants for places of worship scheme – funding for urgent, high-level repairs to listed places of worship (£10,000 to £250,000) – an increase of £4m in England³ on 2010-11 budget
- £21m for ‘Your Heritage’ – popular small grants programme (£3,000 to £50,000) which helps voluntary and community groups to conserve and enjoy local heritage – an increase of £5m on 2010-11 budget
- £17m for Landscape Partnerships – the innovative programme to conserve distinctive landscapes, led by local partnerships (£250,000 to £2million) – an increase of £7m on 2010-11 budget
A full business plan for 2011-12, detailing the remaining allocations within the £250m budget, will be agreed and announced in spring 2011.
Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of the HLF, commented: “We hope this will be heartening news. £250m will make a real difference across the UK. We think it’s particularly important to be increasing our investment in smaller grants having long seen the heritage benefits of people getting involved at a local level. Whether it’s a locally important historic building or church in desperate need of repair or a beautiful landscape that needs attention, we know that community involvement is the key to long-term success.”
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