North Lanarkshire Council successfully applied for lottery funding towards two environmental projects.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded £2.7 million for the Nurturing Natural Connections partnership.
North Lanarkshire Council has successfully applied for lottery funding towards two environmental projects.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded £2.7 million for the Nurturing Natural Connections partnership.
This continues the partnership working under the Cumbernauld Living Landscape banner, which also involves the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the Conservation Volunteers and Sanctuary Scotland. Other projects carried out in this partnership include tree planting, creation of wildflower meadows, installation of bird and bat boxed and other improvements, in addition to providing opportunities for local people to participate in volunteer work.
This latest grant will support phases three and four of the Long Term Forest Plan at Palacerigg Country Park in Cumbernauld, which seeks to promote native species and biodiversity.
The Abronhill area of Cumbernauld will also benefit from additional woodland management work, improving the habitat there.
With 1,000 trees removed in recent years due to the impact of Ash Dieback disease, 2,000 new trees will be planted.
Access improvements are also planned for Westfield and Westfield and Cumbernauld Community Parks, while Cumbernauld will also see the restoration and improvement of the grassland network.
A second lottery funding award of almost £640,000 will support one of only two such projects in Scotland, namely the NL Nearer to Nature Initiative including the appointment of two full time temporary staff. This money will allow the council to work with communities to draw up a ten-year greenspace infrastructure plan targeting the most deprived areas. It will also lead to the appointment of Greenspace Ambassadors who will be given specialised training to improve links between communities and their local green spaces.
The council’s environment and climate change committee welcomed a report on this funding and acknowledged the efforts of the Community Greenspace team in securing this latest support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
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