By Annie Riddle

SALISBURY Cathedral is facing a £250,000 shortfall in funding for restoration work in the coming year after a major falling-out with English Heritage.

A difference of opinion over stone conservation policy has led English Heritage to withhold grant aid to the major repair programme.

The Dean, the Very Rev June Osborne, called the decision "devastating", with implications for all cathedrals and parish churches.

She said: "It is particularly ironic that this is happening in the very year that we are celebrating our 750th anniversary."

English Heritage, which has supported stone conservation work at the Cathedral for 20 years, says it has no ongoing commitment to the repair programme and that cathedrals have to bid for funding every year.

These bids are appraised by experts "on their individual merits".

The repair programme was started in 1986 via the Spire Appeal, and to date £17 million has been spent. Another £13 million is needed to complete it on schedule in seven years' time.

Last year's outlay was £1.2 million, of which English Heritage contributed £250,000. Cathedral authorities were hoping to receive the same again, towards spending they are already committed to.

Their plan is that by 2015 the Cathedral will be free of scaffolding and the exterior will be unlikely to require further work for a century or more.

However, English Heritage's attitude has changed. A Cathedral insider explained: "They want us to take out less stone at any one time. Basically they have told us If you want our money, you will have to change your policy.' "Without the grant, work will have to slow down, or cash will have to be found from elsewhere."

The Dean said: "Our masonry repairs have been undertaken to the highest professional standards and are based on guidelines agreed not only with our own cathedral architect, archaeologist and fabric advisory committee, but also with national bodies, including the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England and English Heritage.

"Now, it appears English Heritage is trying to impose a one size fits all' policy across Britain's cathedrals. But it makes no sense to talk about short-term fixes and constant repairs.

Sir Hayden Phillips, who chairs the Fabric Advisory Committee, said he was "surprised and dismayed" by the way the decision was taken, and accused English Heritage of failing to follow agreed procedures to resolve the dispute.

A spokesman for English Heritage said there had been concerns regarding the approach to conservation.

"We have a policy that as much of the original stonework should be preserved. We are concerned that Salisbury Cathedral's approach will lead to the replacement of much of that original fabric."

He said that grants are not automatic and Salisbury had historically done well - having received £6,239,000 since the cathedral grants scheme was launched in 1991-92.