Julian has welcomed the news that £1,443,739 has been awarded to the Great North Bog conservation project, which covers peatland throughout Skipton and Ripon.
A letter from Trudy Harrison, Minister for Natural Environment and Land Use, confirmed the grant as part of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’ Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme, Round 3.
Peatlands are crucial habitats that both reduce carbon emissions and provide a long-term carbon store, all while boosting biodiversity and improving water quality.
The Nature for Climate Fund has awarded over £33 million over the first two rounds, to restore 20,000 hectares of peatlands. This third round has awarded over £16 million to twelve projects, including the Great North Bog, which will see an additional 1,127 hectares of degraded blanket bog across Yorkshire and the North Pennines restored.
Julian Smith said, “I’m grateful to Trudy and her team at Defra for their hard work on this.
“We’re hugely fortunate in Skipton and Ripon to be surrounded by a natural environment that plays such a key role to both local communities and the country more widely.
“It’s so important that we take care of it and this latest grant from Defra is a key step towards that.”
