UK’s Largest Heritage Funder Re-Opens Grants up to £5m

APPLICATIONS HAVE REOPENED for project grants from £3,000 to £5million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Heritage Fund is the UK’s largest funding stream for heritage projects, with £200m to £300m usually distributed each year. The re-opening follows almost a year of providing emergency support for heritage in response to the pandemic crisis.

In March 2020 The National Lottery Heritage Fund halted new project funding and focused on supporting heritage projects to survive and recover from the impact of COVID-19.
Thanks to the £50 million Heritage Emergency Fund, more than 950 organisations across the UK were supported to adapt to the crisis.

In November 2020 applications for projects between £3,000 to £100,000 reopened and from today, applications are once again open for funding awards from £3,000 up to £5million.

Ros Kerslake, CEO of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Our focus now is to support the heritage sector to strengthen its recovery and to build back for positive change – reopening applications for heritage projects is key to the success of this.”

Grants for Heritage

National Lottery Grants for Heritage are once again available for heritage projects and activities, from industrial heritage and sites, castles and historic places of worship, to public parks, natural landscapes and native wildlife.

Between April 2021 and March 2022 when making funding decisions, priority will be given to heritage projects that deliver at least one of the following outcomes:

• boosting local economies, including job creation
• improving people’s wellbeing
• making local areas better place to live, work and visit
• developing skills, including creating training opportunities
• improving the resilience of organisations we fund

The priorities are designed to support UK economic and social recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is a requirement for every project to achieve an inclusion outcome: ‘a wider range of people will be involved in heritage’. In addition, all projects will have to demonstrate they are environmentally responsible and are integrating environmental measures. This reflects The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s commitment to environmental sustainability and a ‘green’ recovery from the pandemic.

National Lottery Grants for Heritage were introduced in February 2019 as part of a new, simplified funding model. Since then, more than 1,000 projects have been funded including:

Rochdale Town Hall – £8.3m to one of the most historically significant buildings in the UK, with features rivalled in importance only by those within the Palace of Westminster. The investment is integral to the town’s wider regeneration. This project will create a sense of local pride. As well as having a positive impact on the local economy and contributing to the UK’s levelling up agenda.

Grade II* Dockyard Church in Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent was badly damaged by fire in 2001. In 2019, the Sheerness Dockyard Preservation Trust was awarded a £4.2m grant to repair and renovate the church. This was to create a hub for business, arts and tourism. Plus a business enterprise centre for young people and a community café. When complete, Dockyard Church will provide a major cultural and economic boost for this special but little known part of north Kent which has suffered decades of underinvestment.