What can be done to help retain churches and chapels?
The council is working with the East Yorkshire Historic Churches Trust (EYHCT) Historic Churches and Rural Communities project through the LEADER Coast, Wolds, Wetlands and Waterways programme to make the most of church heritage including:
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promoting church tourism by encouraging churches to be open and the publication of church trails, guides and gazetteers including the northern Wolds, Filey and Howdenshire, Stained Glass in the East Riding, Beverley Minster a cascade of churches, Holderness and the Yorkshire Wolds;
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church maintenance by encouraging local people to get involved in helping to look after the fabric of their local churches through a series of church maintenance workshops. Through feedback from these workshops the interest in a church maintenance scheme will be assessed and, if the response is positive, the mechanism for establishing such a scheme will be set up;
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audit by carrying out an audit of churches of all denominations, looking at their overall role in the local community, a ‘state of the nation’ report will be produced. This report will identify churches requiring assistance, particularly those at risk of redundancy.
For more information about the project or to download the church trails visit:
EY Churches (external website)
The council also works with communities through the Community Led Parish Planning process to identify how churches are chapels are valued as assets by their community and potential diversification projects to aid their sustainability.