The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has welcomed the announcement by Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, that the share of lottery funds for heritage - 16.67 per cent - will be maintained for ten years from 2009-2019.
The announcement follows the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's (DCMS) Consultation on National Lottery Money for Arts and Film, Heritage and Sport from 2009, which received 11,000 responses - the most the department has ever received.
Addressing the 10th Annual Lottery Monitor conference at the British Museum in June, Jowell said: 'The public overwhelmingly told us that the current good causes are popular and that they want the lottery to continue to invest in the nation's fantastic arts, film, heritage and sport.'
Liz Forgan, the HLF's chairwoman, said: 'This is wonderful news for our heritage and a recognition of its importance to our success as a modern society.' The announcement will come as a relief to many in the sector amidst worries that heritage's share would be cut.
Maurice Davies, the deputy director of the Museums Association, said: 'It looks like there is still going to be a reduction in money in the run up to the Olympics, but the fear was that after the Olympics funding levels for heritage and the arts would not be retained. The good news is that it is just a short-term decline, not a permanent cut in heritage and arts spending.'
Conservative shadow minister for culture, media and sport, Hugo Swire, said: 'The lottery was set up to give 20 per cent of the money for good causes to heritage. In 1998, the government cut that by almost a fifth, leading to a loss of more than £800m to the heritage sector. It has always been our intention to safeguard heritage's share of the lottery and I am relieved that Labour has not decided to cut yet further this vital source of funding for Britain's heritage.'
But Sara Selwood, the head of cultural policy and management at City University in London, warned: 'The announcement is a way of getting over the panic about the Olympics. It will be reassuring for those in the sector worried that they would be sacrificed on the altar of the Olympics. But the forthcoming comprehensive spending review will really determine the place of heritage as compared with sport and the arts.'
Since it's inception, the HLF has committed more funds than it receives in income in order to ensure new projects get off the ground quickly, but it is reaching the point where it says it can no longer 'sensibly continue to over-commit'.
And last month the National Lottery Bill was passed, giving the government powers to redistribute the interest on balances (funding allocated to projects, but not yet spent) and, in some cases, redeploy the funding.
The combination of these factors means that in the HLF's Strategic Plan for 2008-13 it expects to be able to distribute about £200m each year: considerably less than the £330m a year it currently distributes.
In total, the DCMS wants £1.5bn of lottery funding to go towards the costs of the London Olympic Games.
Patrick Steel
The announcement follows the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's (DCMS) Consultation on National Lottery Money for Arts and Film, Heritage and Sport from 2009, which received 11,000 responses - the most the department has ever received.
Addressing the 10th Annual Lottery Monitor conference at the British Museum in June, Jowell said: 'The public overwhelmingly told us that the current good causes are popular and that they want the lottery to continue to invest in the nation's fantastic arts, film, heritage and sport.'
Liz Forgan, the HLF's chairwoman, said: 'This is wonderful news for our heritage and a recognition of its importance to our success as a modern society.' The announcement will come as a relief to many in the sector amidst worries that heritage's share would be cut.
Maurice Davies, the deputy director of the Museums Association, said: 'It looks like there is still going to be a reduction in money in the run up to the Olympics, but the fear was that after the Olympics funding levels for heritage and the arts would not be retained. The good news is that it is just a short-term decline, not a permanent cut in heritage and arts spending.'
Conservative shadow minister for culture, media and sport, Hugo Swire, said: 'The lottery was set up to give 20 per cent of the money for good causes to heritage. In 1998, the government cut that by almost a fifth, leading to a loss of more than £800m to the heritage sector. It has always been our intention to safeguard heritage's share of the lottery and I am relieved that Labour has not decided to cut yet further this vital source of funding for Britain's heritage.'
But Sara Selwood, the head of cultural policy and management at City University in London, warned: 'The announcement is a way of getting over the panic about the Olympics. It will be reassuring for those in the sector worried that they would be sacrificed on the altar of the Olympics. But the forthcoming comprehensive spending review will really determine the place of heritage as compared with sport and the arts.'
Since it's inception, the HLF has committed more funds than it receives in income in order to ensure new projects get off the ground quickly, but it is reaching the point where it says it can no longer 'sensibly continue to over-commit'.
And last month the National Lottery Bill was passed, giving the government powers to redistribute the interest on balances (funding allocated to projects, but not yet spent) and, in some cases, redeploy the funding.
The combination of these factors means that in the HLF's Strategic Plan for 2008-13 it expects to be able to distribute about £200m each year: considerably less than the £330m a year it currently distributes.
In total, the DCMS wants £1.5bn of lottery funding to go towards the costs of the London Olympic Games.
Patrick Steel
