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27 March 2006
Habitat re-creation in the Fens gets a boost
The Great Fen Project is awarded £1.35 million by ODPM
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has awarded £1.35 million to the Great Fen Project in Cambridgeshire. The grant was awarded through the ODPMs Growth Area Fund, which gave a total of £21.88 million to a range of projects.
One of Britain’s most important habitat restoration schemes, the Great Fen Project aims to restore 37 square kilometres of wetland, stretching between Peterborough and Huntingdon. The Project aims to protect wildlife found at the existing National Nature Reserves, Woodwalton Fen and Holme Fen. Linking these two sites together will create new corridors and larger habitats, allowing wildlife to spread and attracting new species to the area.
The Great Fen Project will not only have huge benefits for wildlife, but also for people, providing an excellent resource for local communities, and attracting tourism to the area. The Project will provide activities suitable for all, not only those who are keen naturalists. These will include educational programmes for schools and a range of recreational activities as the Project develops.
The grant will pay for improvements to access routes into the site, and a study examining ways of providing access from further afield, which in the future might include boats into the Project area. Some of the money will be spent on renovation work at Ramsey Heights Countryside Classroom, used by hundreds of schoolchildren and families visiting the nature reserve every year. It's hoped the improved facilities will bring in lots of new visitors. The rest of the grant will go towards the purchase of more land in the Project area, adding to the 600 hectares of land already under conservation management. Project Manager, Chris Gerrard, said, “We are delighted that the ODPM has awarded us this grant, which will enable us to create more habitat for wildlife and provide new spaces for people to explore”.
To date, the Great Fen Project has raised over £4 million for the purchase and restoration of land in the area. For more information visit www.greatfen.org.uk, or call 01954 713500.
The Great Fen Project is a partnership between the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough, English Nature, the Environment Agency and Huntingdonshire District Council.