PETER Luff is opposing changes to Lottery grants which he fears will harm funding for Worcester Cathedral.

The Mid-Worcestershire MP, who is the Cathedral's council chairman, has written to Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell about his objections to the forthcoming National Lottery Bill.

The Bill will streamline the distribution of Lottery grants by formalising the merger of the New Opportunities Fund, the Community Fund and the Millennium Commission into a single distributor - the Big Lottery Fund.

It will also introduce public consultation on how Lottery money is spent and simplify rules to ensure money is distributed more quickly.

Key support

But Mr Luff is concerned that the Bill gives Ministers the opportunity to take money away from the Heritage Lottery Fund - a key source of financial support for Worcester Cathedral.

"The Heritage Lottery Fund has done a huge amount for our county - just look at its grants to the Severn Valley Railway, the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and, most recently, to the Droitwich Canals as some of the best-known examples," he said.

"But now the Government plans to alter the rules and give itself arbitrary power to take away money from the fund.

"The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport will gain the ability to decide the balances of the Heritage Lottery Fund are too high and take away cash, and to deny the fund the income from interest on those balances.

"All this comes on top of a sharp reduction in the fund's share of the Lottery over the last few years."

In his letter to Ms Jowell, Mr Luff asks her to think again about the proposals, which he says would hamper the Heritage Lottery Fund's ability to "maintain a very fragile environment - particularly of churches and cathedrals".

Mr Luff warned that churches and cathedrals were likely to need more help to balance the books.

"We are working hard at Worcester to endow aspects of the Cathedral's work to end the £80,000 a year deficit we currently run.

More help

"But we are still likely to need more help, not less, from both the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage.

"The state rightly insists these magnificent buildings are maintained to a high standard, but the state does too little to support them."