Introduced 24 years ago, this scheme is the only regular stream of government funding available to England’s churches, synagogues, mosques and temples, allowing them to reclaim VAT spent on restoration. Historic England currently lists just shy of a thousand churches, chapels, meeting houses and cathedrals as “at risk”. The chief executive of the National Churches Trust, Claire Walker, calls the future of church buildings “our biggest heritage crisis”. I’ve found refuge in church buildings from rain, heat, exhaustion and noise. Emily Gee, the Church of England’s director for cathedral and church buildings, told the committee that church buildings have a crucial social purpose.