Southwell Minster will run out of funds next year, and needs £20 million “just to catch up on works that have not been done over many years”, the Dean, the Very Revd Stephen Evans, warned on Friday.
It could face closure, he said, describing the situation as “the most critical point in the Minster’s history”.
Dr Evans took up his post in April this year, following the retirement of the previous Dean, the Very Revd Nicola Sullivan, in July 2024 (News, 12 July 2024), and the interim tenure of Canon Neil Evans (no relation). The 2024 accounts had been produced 156 days late, he said, and it was during the “forensic process” of trying to close the accounts for 2025, and approach the end of 2026, that the true extent of the problem had become clear.
There are still no accounts for 2025. The Dean said that a succession of interim finance staff had been one of many factors that had contributed to the situation with the accounts, but that, overall, this was “just a sad tale of a cathedral among many other cathedrals” running out of money.
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