Ministers have been urged to do more to help historic buildings play a part in regenerating towns and cities.

The Commons committee on the regions said in a new report on Thursday that Whitehall departments are not working closely enough on this cross-cutting responsibility and that ministers are missing out on an opportunity to boost tourism and the economy.

MPs on the committee covering John Prescott's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) concluded that the ministry is too distant from Tessa Jowell's Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Tourism and heritage (a DCMS responsibility) and regeneration (which the ODPM oversees) should go hand in hand, the MPs argued.

The report found that in relation to government policy on historic buildings the two "are not working closely enough together".

In order to get around this lack of joined up government, ministers were pressed to consider transferring responsibility for these properties from the DCMS to the ODPM.

The committee recommended that local authorities do more to promote assets rather than see them as a "burden", particularly by recruiting more conservation officers.

It also called for many of the planning restrictions that stand in the way of modifying and modernising many historic buildings be removed.

And the report asked that the Treasury lobby the EU to consider extending its zero VAT rating on church repairs and alterations to all historic buildings.

Labour MP Chris Mole, who chaired the committee's inquiry, said: "Historic buildings should be seen as an opportunity to boost the local economy and support communities, not a burden to areas in need of regeneration."

"Councils should provide a flexible regeneration framework for historic buildings in their neighbourhoods to ensure that they are not left as artefacts or worse allowed not to," he added.