Lancashire to benefit from £2.4m peatlands investment
Lancashire is set to benefit from a £2.4million investment into restoring its peatlands, which are vital for reducing the county's carbon levels, as well as a haven for wildlife.
It means an area of peatland nearly as big as 2,000 football pitches across sites in Lancashire and Cumbria can be restored.
The county council is due to receive £1.2m from Natural England’s Nature for Climate Peatland Grant scheme. This will be doubled thanks to match funding from United Utilities, National Trust, Wyre Rivers Trust, Grosvenor Estate and private landowners, resulting in a spend of £2.4m.
Peatlands are an iconic feature of England’s landscape and support better water quality and natural flood management. Lancashire's peatlands have the potential to capture thousands of tonnes of CO2.
Lancashire also secured £1.4m investment, as part of the UK's efforts to tackle climate change in October 2022, from the Government's Nature for Climate Peatland Restoration Grant Scheme, bringing the total investment secured to £3.8m in the last 13 months.
Councillor County Councillor Jeff Couperthwaite, lead member for environment, said: "Lancashire's peatlands are an absolutely vital way to reduce our carbon emissions and make Lancashire greener.
"This massive £2.4million injection of funding means that more than 1,370 hectares of peatlands will be restored at 10 sites across the uplands of Cumbria and the Forest of Bowland.
"This is an area the size of 1,929 football pitches.
"The restoration works will be delivered by Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Forest of Bowland AONB Partnership.
"This vital work is estimated to save 12,329 tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2050 – roughly the same as 2,600 return flights from London to Sydney.
"Restoring our peatland will reduce carbon emissions and capture even more CO2 from the atmosphere, offsetting the carbon that is produced from burning fossil fuels.
"Research shows that restored peatlands are more effective at slowing water that flows from the fells, helping to make our natural environment more resilient to flooding.
"Holding water on the peatlands for longer is a double win – it is also beneficial for the habitat itself as keeping peat wet protects it from erosion, drought and promotes the growth and resilience of specialised bog vegetation like sphagnum mosses.
"Restored peat also reduces the severity and impact of moorland fires such as those we have seen on Winter Hill in recent years."
Find out more about how the National Trust are preserving peatland at https://bit.ly/3ZdM3BT