Birmingham Diocesan Board of Finance's Commercial Portfolio 

Prior to 1976, the Church of England’s glebe land was held by individual parish priests in their corporate capacity, and the rents arising from it formed part of their regular income. The Endowments and Glebe Measure 1976 subsumed all glebe property holdings and vested them in the Birmingham Diocesan Board of Finance (DBF). The DBF is charged with maximising returns on glebe land to support it in providing an identical income (known as a ‘stipend’) to all parish priests in the diocese, irrespective of the size or wealth of their parishes or of the glebe holdings within them. The glebe contribution to stipends has not kept pace with inflation, so more funds have had to be raised from other sources.

The Church of England’s Diocese of Birmingham was formed only in 1905 and, unlike longstanding dioceses it does not hold a significant amount of historic land endowments. However, the DBF has accrued past surpluses and has invested in certain properties on its own account, to supplement and increase its historic glebe portfolio. The full property portfolio is broken down into four (4) main sub-sections:

• Agricultural Properties (mainly Farm Business Tenancies): 18 holdings of about 182 acres in total, which includes one holding of 120 acres currently managed by the Church Commissioners;
• Converted (partially redundant) churches;
• Commercial Investment Properties;
• Ground Rents.

Bruton Knowles currently manage the Commerical/ Glebe Portfolio on behalf of the DBF. If you have any queries relating to land or property held by the DBF please get in contact with either the Property Director, Daniel Mayes (property@cofebirmingham.com) or the Head of Property Management at Bruton Knowles, Chris Brook.