Due to the significant wildfire at Fylingdales Moor last summer, the Authority has had to commit a substantial proportion of its available resources to essential repair and recovery works at that site. As a result, the funding budget for the current financial year is considerably constrained, and we have had to reduce overall grant allocations and prioritise projects where heritage assets are at greatest risk of loss.
Historic Building Grant Fund
The National Park Authority currently administers an Historic Building Grant Scheme. The scheme is designed to assist homeowners and landowners in the repair and enhancement of the National Parks built heritage.
Grants are available to support repairs to Listed Buildings included on the Authority’s Register of Listed Buildings at Risk as well as non-listed buildings which are considered to retain a high degree of heritage value and significance. This grant also helps support traditional properties within Conservation Areas to reinstate lost architectural features such as traditional windows, doors, roofing materials, or reinstating hotmixed lime mortars, render or limewash.
Grant criteria
To be eligible for a grant, projects must:
- Adopt a conservation-led approach to repairs, maintaining as much historic fabric and detailing as possible;
- Be within the North York Moors National Park boundary;
- Grants are not available for projects involving a change of use, for example converting a traditional building into an annexe, holiday cottage, residential unit, or any other new use where planning permission has been granted.
Grant funding is typically offered as follows:
- Listed Buildings at Risk: 50% of repair costs, up to £10,000
- Traditional (non-listed) Buildings at Risk: 50% of repair costs, up to £5,000
- General Listed Building Enhancement Works: 50% of costs, up to £5,000
- Conservation Area Enhancement Works: 50% of costs, up to £5,000
Projects have ranged from repairs to farm buildings, uninhabited houses and churches to works to consolidate and restore village pinfolds, monuments and even historic listed “street furniture” such as mileposts.
Within Conservation Areas, projects consist of small scale works to reinstate traditional timber windows and doors to properties which have unsympathetic uPVC or other non-traditional fixtures; or to reinstate handmade clay pantiles or Welsh slate to roofs which have modern concrete tiles or other inappropriate materials. Other grant aided works have included the removal of hard cement render and pointing and its replacement with lime mortar.
Applying for a grant
Please contact the Building Conservation Team on 01439 77270 or building@northyorkmoors.org.uk to discuss your project.
