The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has announced an additional £45m of funding for this year.
In November, the House of Lords approved a change in the percentage of lottery money given to the arts, heritage and sport from 1 April 2011, which will see HLF’s total budget rise to £250m.
The proportion of total lottery income allocated to arts, heritage and sport will increase from 16.7% to 18%, and will rise to 20% in the following financial year, bringing total extra funding of £50m for heritage in 2012-13.
Lottery operator Camelot reported its highest-ever half-year sales of £2.7bn for the six months to 25 September 2010. But an HLF spokeswoman said that the increase in funding was the result of the change in the proportion allocated to heritage, rather than the rise in ticket sales.
HLF has also agreed a £5m increase in the Your Heritage small-grants programme, taking the total to £21m for 2011-12.
Another £1m has been added to the Townscape Heritage Initiative to help regenerate historic areas with social and economic need, bringing the total budget for 2011-12 to £11m.
