LACK of maintenance and under-insurance by Church members is increasing pressure on the Kirk to shed more of its properties, the General Assembly heard yesterday.
But Church members have claimed that spiralling insurance premiums were crippling their efforts to care for and protect their buildings, and called for the Scottish Government to step in and protect the nation's heritage.
The chairman of the Churc
h of Scotland's General Trustees, Finlay Turner, told the assembly that congregations were neglecting their properties and in many cases seriously under-insuring them.
"The trustees have ongoing and mounting concern that the regulations for care of buildings in many cases are not being applied as well as they might, and major problems with buildings continue to arise from long-term neglects and a failure to attend to minor and routine maintenance as it arises," he said.
Mr Turner said there were many cases where work had not been carried out, or where the supervision to ensure it was effective had been "superficial, haphazard or non-existent".
He added that, even if congregations were concerned about the state of their properties, there was an unwillingness to contribute to repairs.
The Rev Gordon Savage, of the Presbytery of Dumfries and Kirkcudbright, said they had carried out a series of insurance re-evaluations on their properties, which had resulted in rises of between 100 per cent and in some extreme cases 500 per cent, and that it was consuming up to 20 per cent of local congregation funds.
He put forward a motion asking that the trustees look at alternative forms of insurance, including under-insurance and self-insurance, in which the building owner maintains a pot of money with which to carry out any repairs, but this ultimately was defeated.
He also said the Church of England received grants from the government to help to cover insurance, because it was recognised that it was caring for the country's heritage, and added that the Kirk should approach the Scottish Government for similar support.
Gordon Jamieson, the Head of Stewardship, which advises congregations on fund-raising, said the Kirk had too many properties which were proving too expensive to maintain.
"I often say to groups: 'We cannot afford all the buildings we've got', and they all nod and agree with me, but if I was to go on and say 'and yours is one of the buildings we can no longer support', then that is totally unacceptable. Congregations and presbyteries have to start to bite the bullet."
He believed, however, that congregations could contribute more to the upkeep of their churches.
The full article contains 442 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
