Further to the Church of England Advice issued on 27 March Securing and caring for your church buildings during the Covid-19 pandemic: advice for incumbents, churchwardens and PCC members on which we posted here, an updated version has now been issued (Version 2, 3 April). Below we reproduce the helpful summary of the changes that have been made; the revised document is here.
New material added to Version 2:
- Prohibition on livestreaming services
- Keeping a record of people who enter the building
- Gas safety inspections
- Gas boiler servicing
- Organ building and maintenance
- Raising and lowering flags
- Conservation projects in the church building
- Collecting post
- Tending graves
Revisions from Version 1:
- References to streaming services removed, as services should not be streamed from the church building.
- References to leafleting removed to avoid risk of spreading infection
- In public notices a reference to the publication of faculty petitions online for all petitions started in the online faculty system after 1 April 2020.
- Change in advice on tending to churchyards, stating this should not now be routinely carried out, following further advice from the police.
Cite this article as: David Pocklington, "Church building maintenance during lockdown – Update" in Law & Religion UK, 3 April 2020, https://lawandreligionuk.com/2020/04/03/church-building-maintenance-during-lockdown-update/
I understand from Diana Evans, Head of Places of Worship Strategy at Historic England, that Historic England has just launched a survey aimed at understanding the impact of the Coronavirus on the businesses and skills that underpin the heritage sector. Its purpose is to complement the recent survey undertaken by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and to help to provide a comprehensive picture of the situation across the whole sector.
The survey will close at midnight Monday 13 April, but HE proposes to keep an eye on feedback over the next few weeks.
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