A new initiative from the National Lottery Heritage Fund will see £15 million invested to support places of worship across the UK - including Wales.

Speaking at the Church of Wales Forum, Anne Jenkins, executive director at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said the body recognised the challenges facing places of worship and offered hope in the form of the new initiative from the fund.

She said: “We know there are particular challenges within Wales for this sector, including the difficulties of communication and access when working with remote rural places of worship, in addition to wider trends of ageing congregations and higher repair costs.” 

The initiative will see a minimum of £15million invested in partnerships to build capacity in places of worship, with a further £100million expected to be invested across the UK over the next three years to support current and former places of worship through national lottery heritage grants.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund director for Wales Andrew White said: “We understand the scale of the challenges facing those who dedicate their time to maintaining and caring for places of worship, and appreciate the unique nature of the challenges in Wales.

"We hope that the support we have announced today will give confidence to the sector to plan for the future and that places of worship across Wales considering an application will get in touch and make that step."