Government must act to save historic buildings in Ashfield

1.38.48am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 5th Sep 2007

Jason Zadrozny at the Church of All Saints - Annesley

LIBERAL Democrats in Ashfield have called on the Government to act now to save historic buildings before they are lost forever.

Leader of Ashfield District Council, Cllr Jason Zadrozny made the call following the publication of the 2007 "Buildings at Risk Register" by government heritage organisation English Heritage which listed the historic building, Church of All Saints, Annesley in Ashfield as being at serious risk of further decay and damage:

"This building is important to our local heritage," said Cllr Zadrozny. "It's loss would be a big blow and my fear is that with funding so limited to prevent further decay, restoring it in the future will be even more expensive.

"English Heritage have suffered a big drop in the amount of money the government provides to support our heritage," said Cllr Zadrozny. "In 1999, the cash available for these building's was £6.6 million. Last year that dropped to £4.4 million.

"The cost of surveying this building alone is £15,000. At the very time when work could well be needed most the government cuts back on funding. They should be supporting local authorities to protect or precious local heritage, not expecting the taxpayers to foot yet another bill.

"Building and repair costs are rising and without government action to stop the rot now, it may become too expensive to save some of our great historic buildings that at the moment are crumbling away.

"One measure the government can take is to lower the VAT charged on renovating or extending homes and buildings. It is unfair that when a building is converted into housing or is renovated or extended, VAT has to be paid at the full rate on the building materials.

"Yet at the same time, a house that is built from scratch on a greenfield site is charged no VAT at all. The effect is to encourage more new houses to be build in greenfield areas and to make it more expensive to improve and renovate existing buildings.

"Our proposal will make it cheaper for many people who own older, historic buildings to carry out repairs and renovation. And we would pay for this by charging the same lower rate of VAT on materials used in building new houses built on greenfield sites.

"This will also mean owners of historic buildings rely less on grants from the government to improve and protect their property. We believe buildings here in Ashfield would benefit greatly from this."