Today, The National Lottery Heritage Fund is announcing £150 million of long-term funding for the UK’s magnificent countryside in a new decade-long initiative, Landscape Connections. This groundbreaking programme will fund projects that boost nature recovery, support our rural economies, and connect more people to the UK’s most treasured places.

Landscape Connections will be delivered as part of the organisation’s ten-year strategy, Heritage 2033, reaching around 20 large-scale projects across the UK. Funding will focus on the UK’s Protected Landscapes - National Parks and National Landscapes in England and Wales, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Northern Ireland and National Parks and other world-class landscapes in Scotland.

The Heritage Fund is one of the UK’s largest investors in landscapes and natural heritage. Over the past 30 years we have invested £2.1billion in more than 4,900 landscape, sea and nature projects.

The UK’s landscapes are managed by a complex mosaic of owners including public and private organisations, estates, farmers and communities, which Landscape Connections will empower to join up to make lasting impact. The funding will allow for new and ambitious local partnerships to undertake enterprising projects, fostering collaboration and creating a network of “protected landscapes” across the UK for the betterment of our landscapes, wildlife, and communities.

Landscape Connections funding can be applied for over the next ten years and will support the people who make landscapes thrive to strengthen working landscapes. It will build on the successes of previous partnership projects such as ‘Our Common Cause: Our Upland Commons’, a 25-partner project which is working with hill farmers and the owners of commons to better manage the land for people and nature whilst providing training and apprenticeship opportunities for young people.

Other successful projects at landscape scale include Coigach and Assynt Living Landscape Partnership, part of an ambitious 40-year vision which saw the restoration of pathways to increase access to some of the rugged landscape in the far north-west of Scotland, and Binevenagh and Coastal Lowlands Landscape Partnership in Northern Ireland, which aims to improve the management and resilience of the special landscape, habitats and species.

Landscape Connections is the realisation of our commitment to support large-scale projects that revive landscapes, support nature recovery and enhance connectivity for nature, people and wildlife. It has been shaped in consultation with stakeholder groups right across the UK.

Julian Glover OBE, Heritage Fund Trustee, said:

“We have some of the most beautiful, loved and famous landscapes in the world but they can do a lot more for nature and more for people. This is a chance to make them flourish by working with those who know them best, from naturalists to businesses and farmers. The aim is to revive and connect these treasured places so that they can do their job well, making life healthier and happier for everyone, regardless of age or background. This programme goes beyond investing in land and nature recovery to back the people who make landscapes thrive. There is no better moment to get started: the challenge is great and the need for change is huge."

Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive of the Heritage Fund, said:

“Landscape Connections is an ambitious initiative and represents a major commitment by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to not only preserve our natural heritage but to reinvigorate and protect it for future generations. As one of the UK’s largest investors in landscapes and natural heritage, we strongly believe that everyone benefits from landscapes rich in nature and beauty. I look forward to seeing the funded projects develop and create tangible change over the next decade to further our vision for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future.”