Montgomeryshire gets National Lottery cash to rewild and improve natural landscapes
The most deprived areas of Montgomeryshire will benefit from improved wild habitats and green corridors after being included in a £5 million National Lottery Heritage Fund project.
As part of making a lasting natural legacy in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust will deliver Nextdoor Nature so local people have the skills, tools, and opportunities to go green.
Wild habitats and green corridors in areas of economic and nature deprivation will be created and school grounds or unused areas will be naturalised.
Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust will work alongside people from rural communities struggling with rural deprivation or social isolation. With the pandemic highlighting the need for open spaces to improve people's mental health Nextdoor Nature will encourage better use of the countryside.
Team wilder officer at Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust Kirsty Martuccio said: "This is a really exciting and valuable project, enabling communities suffering with rural deprivation and social isolation to take action to improve natural spaces on their doorstep. We will inspire and up-skill individuals, and support community projects, to bring back nature and make a tangible change.
"Communities will be empowered to continue the work within their own groups and organisations, leaving a legacy that lasts long beyond the programme."
Thanks to the funding from the Heritage Fund, Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust will support new groups over the next two years, working with communities to identify and developing their local green spaces, to benefit individuals and groups within their community.
National Lottery Heritage Fund chairman Simon Thurley added: "As part of The National Lottery family’s £22m investment to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we are delighted to launch Nextdoor Nature, a transformational initiative which will give access to the natural environment to thousands of people who may not have fully enjoyed or appreciated it before.
"We hope that many people will, for the first time, get hands on with nature, creating a new generation of champions for our precious natural environment."
