Peatland Programme Awarded £500,000 Grant from Biffa Award
2012-09-25

The North Pennines AONB Partnership has won a second National Award to support peatland restoration in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Water flowing off eroding peat

A National Partnership grant from Biffa Award of £500,000 has been awarded to a collaboration between the Friends of the North Pennines and the North Pennines AONB Partnership. The Biffa Award will allow the AONB Partnership to begin to restore some of the badly eroding peat bodies in the North Pennines. The newly established charity, the Friends of the North Pennines will be responsible for handling the finances while the AONB Partnership will coordinate the actual restoration work. Biffa Award is one of the leading landfill communities funding schemes.

Sandra Moorhouse, Vice-Chair of the Friends of the North Pennines said: “We’re very pleased that we’re able to support the AONB Partnership in this very important work. One of the aims of the charity is to conserve the natural environment of the North Pennines and restoration of our peatlands is absolutely vital.”

Chris Woodley-Stewart, Director of the AONB Partnership, said: “This award will allow us to restore large tracts of eroded peat, raise awareness of the importance of peatlands and help bring in additional investment into peatland restoration. It is also a nice example of the developing relationship between the Friends and the AONB Partnership.”

Cath Hare, Biffa Award Acting Programme Manager said: “We are delighted to be able to support this fantastic project and the work that will be undertaken. Projects like this are incredibly important for the biodiversity of local areas and it will help to restore these peatlands for the future.”

Since 2006, the AONB Partnership has restored over 250 km2 of blanket bog in the North Pennines and this Biffaward will allow the trialing of new bare peat restoration techniques. The North Pennines AONB contains the largest contiguous peat bog in England at over 1000 km2.

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