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Get your green fingers on £5 million of Lottery money
The Big Lottery Fund is ploughing £5m in National
Lottery good cause money into the 91Èȱ¬-led Breathing
Places project, to be launched on 91Èȱ¬
TWO's Springwatch programme today (Monday 12 June).
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Breathing Places involves a host of wildlife and conservation organisations working with the 91Èȱ¬ to inspire a million people to get involved in creating and caring for thousands of wildlife-friendly green spaces in their local patch.
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Any voluntary or community sector organisation with
experience of working the natural environment - or working in partnership
with an organisation with this experience - can apply for a lottery-funded Breathing Places grant.
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It is the biggest project of its kind
and the lottery programme opens today, 12 June.
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Liz Cleaver, Controller of 91Èȱ¬ Learning and Interactive, said: "This announcement is wonderful news for all the partners and organisations who are working with us on Breathing Places.
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"Hundreds of communities will be able to benefit from the money, and it will make a real difference for wildlife in the UK."
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Sir Clive Booth, Chair of the Big Lottery Fund, said: "The Big Lottery Fund has committed £5m to the Breathing Places grants programme to help develop existing breathing places or create new ones.
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"We want this funding to have a real impact on
the way communities think about and use the environment around them.
It will, I hope, also raise the public's awareness of the benefits
that Lottery funding can bring."
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A perfect catalyst to encourage people to get involved is the 91Èȱ¬'s Springwatch, which is all about bringing people closer to nature and wildlife.
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Springwatch is supporting Breathing Places by showing
people how they can take small actions that make a big difference.
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Bill Oddie said: "This Big Lottery funding is brilliant news! Over the past few years, the British public has been really supportive of Springwatch and keen to not only get outside and enjoy nature but help it too.
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"This money will give everybody a chance to make
a real difference in their local patch."
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A wide range of grants is available from the Big Lottery Fund of between £300 and £10,000 for improving or creating a public space - which can be anything from a community forest, park, local nature reserve or community garden - but it must be open to the public.
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The £5m available through the Lottery Breathing Places grants programme, from June 2006 to March 2007, delivers grants through two funding strands.
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Today, 91Èȱ¬'s Springwatch launches the first strand which has £1m available in grants to voluntary and community organisations, parish, town, and community councils.
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It is available for existing activities that support
community involvement in transforming their local environment. Ìý
The grants awarded during phase one are mainly for
revenue costs with grants being awarded in October 2006.
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The closing
date for applications is Wednesday 26 July 2006.
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The second strand launches with 91Èȱ¬'s Autumnwatch and aims to distribute £4m to a wider range of organisations - including schools - for new projects that make physical improvements to the local environment.
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The grants awarded during phase two will be mainly
for capital costs. More details will be available from the Big Lottery
Fund and bbc.co.uk nearer the time. The programme opens for applications
in October 2006.
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Breathing Places is inspired by the pioneering work of the Victorian horticulturalist and philanthropist, J.C. Loudon.
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He drew up a radical plan for London to enable everybody
to have a green space no more than a quarter of mile from their home,
whatever their status. He called these green places 'breathing places'.
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More information about Breathing Places can be found at bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces and biglotteryfund.org.uk
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NR
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Notes to Editors
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Breathing Places is an initiative the 91Èȱ¬, the Big Lottery Fund and a host of
external organisations are working together to deliver.
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Key partners include: The Wildlife Trusts, BTCV, RSPB, and the Woodland Trust.
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Breathing Places is a three year campaign and aims to transform at least 50,000
local green places around the UK. It aims to leave a lasting legacy for the
nation - a transformed landscape with many more Breathing Places in cities, towns, villages and the wider countryside for all to enjoy.
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On the weekend of 3 and 4 June 91Èȱ¬'s Springwatch organised 15 Breathing Places events around the
UK to kick start the campaign.
More than 200,000 visitors came along to these
free family events to pick up helpful tips and advice from Springwatch and
its partner organisations. People were treated
to bird box building, wildflower planting, honey tasting and pond dipping.
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So far this year (January to May), the Springwatch website has had 5.5 million
page impressions; more than 50,000 people took part in this year's Springwatch
survey with nearly 100,000 species sightings recorded; an average of
3.7 million people have tuned in to watch Bill, Kate and Simon in Springwatch
With Bill Oddie on 91Èȱ¬ TWO - and there's still a week of the TV series
to go.
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The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) operates the Breathing Places grants programme. The
Big Lottery Fund is the joint operating name of the New Opportunities Fund
and the National Lottery Charities Board (which made grants under the name
of the Community Fund).
The Big Lottery Fund, launched on 1 June 2004, distributes
half of all National Lottery good cause funding across the UK.
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The Big Lottery Fund has committed £5m to a dedicated Breathing Places grants programme. All money will go to community groups and partner organisations to help them create breathing places.
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To find more information about the Breathing Places grants programme and to download an application pack please visit BIG's website at biglotteryfund.org.uk or call 0845 367 0610 (textphone 0845 602 1659).
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Breathing Places is supported by public libraries across the UK. Members of the
public can pick up a free Breathing Places booklet at their local library,
with more information about the campaign and the grants programme.
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