The DCLG has given the Church of England £5m to set up a charity which promotes inter-faith community projects.

The new charity will be called Near Neighbours and be created by the Church of England (CoE) and Church Urban Fund, a charity founded by the CoE in 1987.

Near Neighbours will run a three-year programme which will offer small grants to communities for local inter-faith projects.

It will be funded with £5m from the Department of Communities and Local Government.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles said: "Religious organisations play an enormous pastoral role in our neighbourhoods and have excellent networks within our communities - none more so than the Church of England. They have been getting on with their work for centuries - offering support to youth groups, parents and pensioners and providing services to those in need.

"Near Neighbours will build on this and bring folks from different backgrounds together for the good of the community - be it a sports event or working together to improve a local park, it will mean meeting your neighbours and getting on.

"There are very few faith groups that don't look beyond their own faith and congregation to put something back into the community that surrounds them, so this project will build on that and I encourage people to get involved."

Near Neighbours will start operating this year in locations in the M62 “mill towns” corridor, Leicester, East London and Brimingham.