RELIEF from repairs bills for religious buildings announced by the Chancellor in his Budget last Wednesday (March 17) have been warmly welcomed by one West Devon parish.

The Chancellor?s announcement of an increase in the VAT rebate for church repairs has been welcomed by the churchwarden of St Andrew?s Church at Sampford Courtenay, which urgently needs to carry out repairs costing £130,000 to stop its roof leaking.

The Chancellor?s move will be a great help to the parish which had undertaken a major fund-raising appeal to enable the repair of the Grade I Listed church to go ahead. The change in VAT rules should save the church council £5,500.

In his Budget speech, Gordon Brown said churches and other sacred places would now be able to reclaim VAT at the full amount of 17.5%.

Previously, churches had a rebate of just 12.5%, so they effectively had to shell out for five per cent of the bill.

Kate Dean, churchwarden at St Andrew?s said she had been delighted to learn of the Chancellor?s move.

?It should save us a lot of money. It is extremely nice. I don?t think anyone had any idea this was coming.?

Mrs Dean said the project had also been made possible thanks to a generous grant from English Heritage.

The scaffolding is due to go up in August, with restoration work starting at the end of that month. The work is expected to take ten weeks and be completed by the end of October.

The problems which the repairs programme will tackle include the leaking lead roof on the southern side of the church, and major defects to the pointing on the south wall and part of the west end tower, plus a damaged lightning conductor.

The church has figured prominently in the history of the Church of England having been the scene of the Prayer Book Rebellion.

Mrs Dean said despite the Chancellor?s policy, fund-raising events were still taking place to ensure the full total is raised.

The next such event is the repeat of last year?s successful ?Raising the Roof? concert taking place on Saturday, April 17.

A Treasury spokesman said the measure would be in place from now until March 2006 and applied to listed buildings.

He added it was estimated to be worth £10 million within the next financial year, cash which had already been set aside.

Although the finer details of the Chancellor?s decision have not yet been revealed, it is likely that churches will still have to pay the VAT initially, and then apply for the rebate.

Arun Kataria, a Church of England spokesman, said the church spent about £130 million a year on repairs to its 16,000 buildings, 13,000 of which were listed.

?We have for several years raised the case about VAT on repairs to church buildings being anomalous. We are very grateful for this announcement,? he said.