Jamie Carpenter,
Regen.net,
24 November 2009
A taskforce intended to aid efforts to turn derelict and disused churches into community facilities has been launched by a group of national, public and church organisations.
The Regeneration Taskforce aims to save historic churches at risk by bringing them back into everyday community use.
It hopes to demonstrate how historic churches can lead to the regeneration of urban and rural areas. It will work with communities around 340 historic churches owned by the Churches Conservation Trust that have the potential for new community uses.
The taskforce is a partnership between the Churches Conservation Trust, English Heritage, the Church of England, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Development Trusts Association, the Media Trust, the Prince’s Regeneration Trust, the Lankelly Chase Foundation, the Commission for Rural Communities and RBS Community Banking.
Representatives of the ten organisations will form the advisory group to the taskforce.
Crispin Truman, chief executive of the Churches Conservation Trust, said: "The regeneration taskforce will help communities, developers and conservation bodies to save historic churches for future generations by bringing them back into the heart of the community, either through a change of use or restorative work."
