Lord Bishop Peter Eagles says he would like to offer warm spaces to the community but worries about the Church’s ability to heat its buildings following rising costs.

The diocese received a ‘small-ish’ grant from the Church of England to help it to participate in the scheme.

In a meeting of Tynwald’s select committee on built heritage, Bishop Eagles talked of the issues facing the Church in regards to funding the maintenance of the church buildings and spoke about wanting to be a part of the scheme.

He said: ‘Any funding would be a great thing and I think the psychological value of that would be huge, sometimes the sense is that actually one has to just keep working hard as a parish community just to keep things on the road.

‘We would wish, as churches, to be able to offer warm spaces to the community.

‘Obviously, to be able to do that we have to be able to heat ourselves.’

The grant which the Diocese of Sodor and Man was split equally to all the parishes.

Bishop Eagles said: ‘We are aware that two parishes have been encouraged to apply for the warm spaces scheme.

‘The purpose of the buildings is to be a physical and spiritual place that benefits the community.

‘That is the gift that the church has always wanted to be and for those buildings to be an asset rather than becoming a liability.’