Westland Countryside Stewards is happy to announce the charity has received £6,800 of funding from the National Lottery. The funds will allow for the construction of a new footbridge to Kilkhampton Common, replacing the previous one damaged by the floods. The new bridge will continue to allow safe public access to the site. Nature should be for everyone, and we want to give as many people an opportunity to connect with it.
Kilkhampton Common was once a neglected stretch of countryside with a significant scope for environmental improvement. The charity purchased the land, and for the past decade, it has improved its biodiversity through newly created grassland, woodland and river habitats. The site is open to the public and dedicated to conservation and promoting people to reconnect with nature.
Regular visitors to the site may have already spotted work being done. Nature is unpredictable, and we faced our first challenge when we discovered that the earlier flooding had changed the watercourse. This week, our task was to reshape the stream before digging to the bedrock to put in the concrete bases and piers.
John Duncan, founder of Westland Countryside Stewards, says: “We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way. Now, thanks to National Lottery players we will be able to reinstate access to Kilkhampton Common that does not necessitate wading through water. This is important because with the old bridge lost, access is denied to many visitors who for a variety of reasons are unable to ford the stream.”
If you are interested in volunteering opportunities for this project, please contact us.
The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.
As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.
National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£588.2 million) of life-changing funding to communities.
To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk
