A £1MILLION lottery grant means an ambitious plan to restore historic Lye and Wollescote Cemetery Chapels to their former glory can now plough ahead.

The West Midlands Historic Buildings Trust has been given £1,025,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to bring the chapels back into community or commercial use.

The landmark Grade II listed identical Anglican and Non-Conformist chapels, off Cemetery Road, Lye, have been closed and lying derelict for more than 20 years but thanks to the long-campaigned for grant they can be fully refurbished and saved for future generations.

Bob Tolley, chairman of the West Midlands Historic Buildings Trust, said: “We’re thrilled the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this support and excited to be able to deliver our scheme to save this important building because it means so much to local people.

“It has been a focus for the Trust for a number of years and that we are now able to bring our plans to fruition is testament to the hard work and dedication of many people, not least our late chairman Alan Smith MBE.

Stourbridge MP Margot James was also “delighted” at the news and added: “The chapels are a treasured local landmark and we should commend the Trust on their hard work in securing this funding.”

The building, a rare surviving example of two chapels within a single structure - located in what was designed as a Victorian landscaped park, was severely at risk due to lack of use when Trust volunteers launched a campaign to save it.

Currently owned by Dudley Council, the chapels will be transferred to the Trust under an asset transfer agreement and restoration work will get underway next year.

Lye councillor Pete Lowe, deputy leader at Dudley Council and cabinet member for finance, said: “I have visited the cemetery chapels on many occasions and through our partnership with the Trust and HLF we now look forward to a bright future for this locally significant building.”

Reyahn King, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the West Midlands, said: “This is an excellent project demonstrating how lottery funding can bring derelict buildings back into sustainable use for the greater benefit of the community.”

Learning and heritage-based activities will also be introduced as part of the project and will continue after the building works are complete.

Trails around the cemetery, booklets, display materials, schools resources and a website are among the list of activities to be introduced - to provide print based and online public information about the building, its history and the conservation project.