Thanks to Peter for this latest AONB news. Ed
The Isle of Wight Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is celebrating the announcement of a grant award of more than £1.5million from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The grant has been awarded for its landscape partnership scheme – Down to the Coast – the focus of which is the intricate and diverse landscape of the eastern half of the Island.
Unique woodlands
This area is amongst the UK’s richest areas for wildlife with a complex geology underpinning its incredibly varied landscapes.
With few deer and no grey squirrels its woodlands are unique in the UK as a place where red squirrels, Bechstein bat and dormice thrive whilst a lack of mink means that water birds and water vole also flourish. It’s also a landscape admired since the 18th century for its picturesque qualities.
East Wight Landscape Partnership
However, the landscape and the very things that make it so valuable are changing, as are the ways people live, work, learn and play in this part of the Island.
Local stakeholders have now come together under the banner of the East Wight Landscape Partnership to manage this process of change resulting in a balanced, conservation-led scheme with an emphasis on training and community participation that will leave a lasting legacy for the landscape.
Down to the Coast plans
Thanks to National Lottery players, Down to the Coast will reconnect fragmented habitats in our woodlands and river systems.
It will provide the support that will enable more people to take an active role in managing our landscape and create new opportunities for our young people to access apprenticeships and accredited training in land management.
This will help ensure that the skills and expertise necessary to maintain the qualities that give the Down to the Coast landscape its unique sense of place remain in our community.
Although very different, it is hoped that the Down to the Coast scheme will equal the achievements of the West Wight Landscape Partnership.
Pete Fellows from the Isle of Wight AONB said:
“This award recognises what an incredible asset the landscape of the East Wight is for local people and provides us with a fantastic opportunity to ensure its special qualities are celebrated and conserved for the enjoyment of current and future generations.”
