On Track for The Future After Thirty Years of Supporting Nature

By Drew Bennellick, Head of Land, Seas and Nature Policy UK for National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Aerial view of Plymouth Marine Park in the evening — Plymouth Marine Park: our funding is helping to create the UK’s first National Marine Park to restore nature and engage the city in its maritime heritage and bring people together (Big Ladder Photography)

This November The National Lottery will be celebrating a landmark 30th birthday! Over the last three decades, thanks to lottery players, the Heritage Fund has awarded over £9billion to 52,000 projects supporting good causes across the length and breadth of the UK - from restoring historic buildings and sharing histories, to regenerating museums and public parks.

However it may be less well known that the Heritage Fund is one of the largest funders of landscapes and natural heritage in the UK. In fact around 22% or over £2billion of our funding has been used to support threatened habitat and endangered species conservation as well as landscape-scale restoration projects, skills development and traineeships, citizen science and volunteering, regenerating public parks, and supporting geodiversity and marine conservation.

Looking to the future – our outlook remains ambitious and we have launched a new ten-year strategy setting out our vision for how heritage should be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. Over the next decade we will be focusing more on whole places, not just individual projects, to bring about wider benefits for people, places and our natural environment.

Following conversations with hundreds of organisations and listening to people who work with the UK’s natural and cultural heritage, we set out a simplified investment framework that forms the foundation of our new National Lottery Heritage Grants programme providing grants from £10,000 to £10million.

Group of young adults posing together with matching t-shirts saying 'I am a force of nature' — Trainees on the New to Nature programme celebrate the Force for Nature campaign, which asks environmental organisations to think differently about how we diversify our workforce and boost the environment sector (Groundwork)

Over the next 10 years we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players into projects which will have a transformative effect and most excitingly, nature recovery and addressing environmental sustainability are at the heart of our plans.

To make it easier for anyone applying for funding we have set out four straightforward principles that underpin our investment work. Every applicant will be asked to tell us how their project will contribute to:

saving heritage
protecting the environment
inclusion, access and participation
organisational sustainability

During the assessment process we will consider how each project responds to these principles although it will be for applicants to determine which they see as most important and appropriate for their project.

For the first time, under ‘saving heritage’ our strategy makes specific reference to our ambition to improve the condition of habitats and species, and under ‘protecting the environment’ applicants are asked to consider how their project will contribute to nature’s recovery as well as environmental sustainability.

Our ambition for 2033, when we will renew our strategy, is to see landscapes and habitats in both urban and rural places put into recovery so they support abundant natural heritage and healthy natural systems.

Castle Espie Wetlands arial view — Wetlands help clean out water, protect against climate change, provide safe homes for wildlife and form part of our archaeological and cultural heritage too (WWT)

People are a key component of our strategy. We want to see projects that include a focus on increasing people’s understanding and connection with nature across towns, cities and the countryside. Research shows it is the most deprived and often minority communities that have least access to nature where they live. We will support organisations to ensure everyone has opportunities to learn, develop new skills and explore heritage, regardless of background or personal circumstances and we’ve supported and learned from transformative projects like New to Nature.

New to Nature, delivered by the brilliant team at Groundwork UK in partnership with the Youth Environmental Service, Mission Diverse, Disability Rights UK and The Princes Trust, has enabled nearly 100 trainees to undertake twelve months’ paid employment within 80 environmental organisations to gain vital work experience.

By developing and trialling new recruitment and mentoring techniques a diverse group of young people have joined the environmental sector and our hope is that many will go on to find permanent jobs.

Demand for places on the programme was high and our aim was to demonstrate the diverse range of jobs available in the landscape and nature sector, from community engagement and digital communications, to practical conservation and policy development. Projects like this are essential if we are to build the scale of skilled workforce needed to deliver environmental targets in future.

Later this year we will be launching two new long-term initiatives. One will focus on urban green and blue spaces, aiming to deliver urban nature recovery through supporting local authorities and their partners - to deliver economic, social and environmental benefits.

Group of young children gardening together — Inspiring young children across 17 inner-London Boroughs to discover butterflies and moths and help them connect with nature in their community (Chris O’Donovan)

We will also be launching a strategic initiative to enable large scale projects that revive whole landscapes, support nature recovery and enhance connectivity for people and wildlife. Working with bodies such as the National Landscapes and National Parks, as well as conservation charities, we are ambitious to find new projects that put entire landscapes in to recovery, supporting abundant natural heritage, rich cultural heritage and healthy natural systems.

Wetlands help clean out water, protect against climate change, provide safe homes for wildlife and form part of our archaeological and cultural heritage too (WWT)

My role working as a landscape architect within the National Lottery Heritage Fund is an incredible privilege - but it is the amazing people who apply and who are passionately and energetically involved in projects of all sizes who inspire me and demonstrate the power of The National Lottery funding to transform lives and places.

The Heritage Fund has the expertise to provide the opportunities and resources to make amazing things happen, but I also feel a responsibility to ensure we make the process as easy as possible whilst supporting the best projects.

UK landscapes and nature need all our support and we need to make sure that every penny of National Lottery funding that is awarded to landscape, sea and nature projects makes a tangible difference. Carry on delivering brilliantly, carry on buying those National Lottery tickets and we will do our very best to make sure we can all make a difference together.

Our funding programmes are now open so please visit our website at: www.heritagefund.org.uk