Jonathan Goodchild, the BIOS Heritage Adviser, draws our attention to a current Dept. of Culture Media & Sport consultation on the future of National Lottery good cause funding. As well as the response BIOS will be submitting, individual responses will add weight to the submissions but do this before the deadline of midday on 23 September 2026. The link with more information is https://tinyurl.com/3jy3jvy2 .
If you have any questions relating to responding about pipe organs to this consultation, contact BIOS Heritage Adviser, Jonathan Goodchild on hoarr@bios.org.uk
Responses should describe experiences of lottery funding. Here are some points BIOS will be making in its submission.
- emphasising the very considerable contribution that National Lottery funding has already made to the preservation of historic organs. Lottery funding has enabled the conservation and restoration of organs of national and international importance which could not realistically have been funded by the communities and churches in which they are located. Those who know particular examples could usefully mention them, explaining why the instrument is significant and what Lottery funding has enabled to be achieved.
- we will be commenting on the proposal to devolve funding decisions to local or regional level. There are advantages in giving communities a greater say but also risks. Devolution could make it harder for major projects to obtain large grants and could favour projects which have a large number of local supporters over heritage assets whose significance is less widely understood. A nationally important organ in a small community could therefore lose out to a less significant project which happens to have greater local visibility. One might argue there should continue to be a national route for projects of exceptional heritage significance. Specialist expertise is important in conservation decisions. Local funding panels cannot be expected to have specialist knowledge of every type of heritage. Devolved funding bodies should have access to independent specialist advice, so that work to historic organs is carried out in accordance with the best modern conservation practice.
- this consultation provides an opportunity to point out the increasing financial pressures on historic churches. The withdrawal of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme has made fundraising for repair and conservation substantially more difficult because VAT must now be found as part of the project cost. It is worth arguing this strengthens the case for maintaining or increasing the proportion of Lottery funding allocated to heritage. BIOS’s proposed position is that the heritage allocation should rise from 20% to 25%.
- accessibility of the funding process is an issue as most historic organs are cared for by parish churches. It should be possible for a church official to make an application without having to employ professional advisers simply to navigate the funding process. Requirements concerning matters such as “inclusion, access and public participation” and “organisational sustainability” can be a substantial barrier to church applicants and may be disproportionate to the nature of an organ conservation project. Members may therefore wish to support a simpler, more proportionate application process, while still supporting proper specialist assessment of the conservation work itself.
The most useful individual submissions will explain from experience, why historic organs matter, what is at risk, how Lottery funding has helped, and what might be lost if funding becomes more locally focused or less accessible.
Jonathan Goodchild, BIOS Heritage Adviser
hoarr@bios.org.uk