PARISH churches across Torridge and West Devon are being encouraged to apply for a ‘Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund’ grant to help with roof repairs.

Torridge and West Devon Conservative MP Geoffrey Cox, is encouraging communities to apply for the grant that is designed to help make the UK’s listed places of worship weather-tight, safe and open for use.

The Government-sponsored fund is open for a second round of applications until Friday, February 26 —there is a total of £25-million available.

The MP’s call follows a recent written parliamentary question in which he sought to clarify the number of grants that were to be allocated to churches in Devon and Cornwall from the fund over the last five years.

The response from the Caroline Spelman MP revealed that 22 churches in Devon had been offered grants totaling £1,199,700 and a further seven in Cornwall were also offered money during the first round of grants.

Mr Cox said: ”From the conversations I have with people across my constituency I am very aware of the financial hardship which is facing our churches.

“Many of these beautiful and valuable buildings require urgent work to bring them back to a safe and useable state, yet for many communities the finances are simply not available to do this.

“The Roof Repair Fund has allocated significant sums of money to 22 different churches across Devon already, and with a further £25-million now available I am urging those communities who have been raising funds to repair their church roofs to submit an application for a share of this money.”

The grant is open to all parish churches across the UK.

For more details about the grant, administered by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, on behalf of the Government, visit the website www.lpowroof.org.uk