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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 3:22 am
Time: 3:22 am
Results for churches (u.k.)
1 results foundAuthor: Sloman, Anne Title: Church Buildings Council: Report of the working party on metal theft Summary: Metal theft, and in particular the theft of lead from church roofs, is the most serious problem facing the maintenance of the nation’s historic legacy of church buildings at the moment. There are no national police statistics and so our best source of information is Ecclesiastical Insurance Group (EIG), the main insurer of Anglican churches. In the past eight years they have seen an increase in claims from 6 to 1763 a year, the annual cost rising from £18,000 to £3.3m, a dramatic increase. Nearly £23m over the past 5 years. The cost of the claims reflects just a fraction of the cost of the crime. In recent years Ecclesiastical has had to put a cap on the amount that it will pay out on claims for lead theft to prevent it from becoming an uninsurable risk. Collateral damage caused during the crime and afterwards, for example from rain water, is considerable. The cost of metal theft to the UK as a whole is estimated to be at least £770m. This is not a victimless crime. The victims are those very people the government are trying to encourage to embrace the vision of the Big Society. They are churchwardens and members of Parochial Church Councils (PCCs) who are at the heart of their communities working hard to maintain historic buildings, to keep them open for worship and available to serve the areas where they live in a whole variety of ways. Coping with one theft of a church roof is disheartening, coping with successive thefts, as is often the case, is heart breaking, particularly when water pouring causes irreparable damage to the building and its contents. The Institute of British Organ Building has reported for three years now the number of organ restorations following water damage consequent on lead theft. Over thirteen such cases were noted in 2010, including a significant historic organ at St Hilda, South Shields, only recently restored. The widespread perception that the police are indifferent to this crime is not helpful to the social cohesion of these communities. For example, of four churches in the Oldham area that had lead stolen, some with repeat thefts, the police were extremely slow to respond, in two instances taking more than a week and on one occasion the response was to issue a crime number, without visiting the site. There has never been a requirement for forces to keep specific data on metal theft as there is no distinct crime code (with the exception of the British Transport Police). Metal theft is currently recorded under a range of categories, ranging from ‘other theft’ to criminal damage. We urge the Home Office to look at this. The lack of prosecutions compounds the problem. There are instances of the CPS failing to prosecute even when a thief has been caught committing a crime. This report was prepared by a working party of the Church Buildings Council, a Statutory Body with responsibility for the care, development and use of Church of England churches. The working party was chaired by Anne Sloman, Chair of the Council. It included senior representatives from Ecclesiastical Insurance and dioceses affected, and took evidence from a range of interested parties including the Second Estates Commissioner, Tony Baldry MP, the police and the scrap metal industry. Its remit was the problem of lead theft from Churches, but as Ministers will be aware the problem is not confined to churches. Network Rail, British Telecom, schools, local authorities, and the gas and electricity networks are also suffering extensively from this crime. The group makes eight recommendations for Government action and commits the Church to good practice over reporting crime and the threat of crime as well as cooperating with basic security measures. This is a serious crime which at times of financial stringency is costing the country a huge amount of money and urgently needs to be addressed nationwide by Government action led by the Home Office. Details: London: Church Buildings Council, Archibishops' Council, The Church of England, 2011. 7p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 13, 2012 at http://www.churchcare.co.uk/pdf_view.php?id=246 Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.churchcare.co.uk/pdf_view.php?id=246 Shelf Number: 124530 Keywords: Churches (U.K.)Metal Theft (U.K.) |