Rugby MP Mark Pawsey has pledged to ‘value our natural heritage’ this week after meeting local nature conservation organisation Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and the Heritage Lottery Fund at the House of Commons (photo attached). The event was held to highlight the value of funding nature and its recovery. It showcased a number of Wildlife Trust projects funded by HLF around the UK.
Mark said:
“It was great to hear how HLF funded Wildlife Trust projects have brought benefits to local wildlife and people. This shows what can be done if a body invests in and values the natural environment. I look forward to Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and the Heritage Lottery Fund continuing to work together to protect and restore nature and to help people engage with the natural world.”
Mark added:
“I saw first-hand the important work being done by Warwickshire Wildlife Trust here in Rugby in October of last year when I visited Brandon Marshes. My children had visited the site on a school trip and only had good things to say about it. It was great to go along to see the facilities for myself.”
Carole Souter CBE, Chief Executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: “Over the past 16 years the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded around £100million towards Wildlife Trust projects. This forms part of our wider commitment of £390million to more than 3,000 projects which support nature conservation across the UK. Our funding has made it possible to help people learn about, conserve and protect our incredible natural heritage.
“We are now consulting on the future of Lottery funding for heritage, asking people to tell us what they think our priorities should be, what we should continue to do, and what we should do differently. Over the next few years the amount of money we will have available for heritage will increase to around £300million and we want to know how people think we should use it.”
Visit www.hlf.org.uk/consultation2011 by 26 April to register your views.