Fix the Fells: Lake District project faces £250k shortfall

Creating proper paths, like this one at Wansfell, help prevent further erosion

A conservation project that repairs damaged paths and restores landscapes in the Lake District is facing a "significant" shortfall in funding.

From June, Fix the Fells will no longer receive money from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as a consequence of Brexit.

It will leave the organisation more than £250,000 a year worse off.

Organisers say they fear for the future of the project and the impact on the national park if it folds.

Restoration projects that started before Brexit were able to continue until the end of the ERDF programme in June, but further funding from Europe is not available as the UK is no longer part of the EU.

By the end of the ERDF grant, £1.5m will have come from Europe since it began in 2019.

'Quickly deteriorate'

Fix the Fells programme manager Joanne Backshall said: "We are very concerned about our future funding and the impact this will have on the Lake District fells if our work ceases.

"We are looking for additional funding to meet a significant looming shortfall but we don't know where we will find the money, it's very worrying.

"We are disappointed that we can no longer apply for EU funding for our work, and that we cannot find alternative sources of funding from the UK government to replace it."

Mrs Backshall fears the combination of significantly less funding, an increase in visitors and more episodes of severe weather could have a devastating affect on the landscape.

"Without our work, the Lake District fells would quickly deteriorate to the scarred landscape of the 1980s and 90s, when gullies wider than a motorway and 12ft deep were clearly visible along rights of way across the fells," she said.

Fix the Fells

Fix the Fells has won awards for it work - as seen here in Langdale

• Set up more than 20 years ago with Heritage Lottery Funding, it relies on grants and donations as well as being part-funded by the ERDF

• It is a partnership between the National Trust, Lake District National Park, Natural England, Lake District Foundation and Friends of the Lake District

• Volunteers work alongside rangers to improve the appearance of areas and repair damage caused by people using the fells for recreation

• Last year, more than 3.8 miles (6 km) of paths were repaired on 30 different routes all over the World Heritage Site

As a response to the UK's withdrawal from the EU, the government announced the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2021 to address the loss of EU funding for projects across the country.

When asked about Fix the Fells, a spokesperson for Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will match EU funding and gives local places control of how money is spent, removes unnecessary bureaucracy and enables local communities to invest in the priorities that matter to them."

They added that councils are responsible for deciding which projects are funded.

A spokesperson for the Lake District National Park Authority said: "We and the National Trust are extremely committed to the Fix the Fells programme and we are looking to maximise opportunities to secure alternative sources of funding, through donations, legacies, and corporate sponsorship."

A new report by independent consultants Amion, which was drawn up as requirement of ERDF funding, found walkers and tourists regarded the volunteers' work as "important in preserving the Lakeland environment".