Cathy is involved in supporting the development of 2 major bids for funds to the National Lottery for long-term landscape scale programmes.
The first covers the Lune Valley ‘3 Counties’ area. This bid is led by Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, in partnership with ourselves, Lune Rivers Trust and Yorkshire Dales National Park. We are working hard putting together the bid to the Heritage Fund for c£0.5m development funds, to be submitted in early 2027 and, if successful, starting in the summer. Our key areas of interest are in supporting a team of farm advisers to drive nature recovery in the area, particularly focussed on trees and woodlands, species rich and wet grassland and riverine habitats. We are also supporting a creative project run by The Knotted Project and focussed on a 'sense of place'. We will also host a community and communications officer for the programme to support volunteering opportunities and to run a community nature fund for the area.
The second bid is to the new ‘Landscape Connections’ scheme run by the Heritage Fund, and this can be for up to £10m over 10 years. A ‘preparatory/concept phase’ called Bowland Connects has now been funded for 12 months and is led by Ribble Rivers Trust in partnership with ourselves, YDMT and Lancashire Wildlife Trust. Next year this partnership will bid for the next stage of funds, the development stage, as above. If successful, the programme will cover nature recovery and community activity in the southern half of Bowland and run for 8-10 years creating a significant impact for nature and for people.
