Fix the Fells: Lake District footpath repair group secures funding

Work to restore the footpath at Loughrigg, looking down on to Grasmere lake

A conservation project that repairs damaged paths and restores landscapes in the Lake District has secured funding to allow it to continue.

Earlier this year there was concern Fix the Fells was facing a £250,000 shortfall in funding.

In June it stopped receiving money from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as a consequence of Brexit.

However, the partnership has now secured funding from Natural England and through sponsorship.

Volunteers and rangers have worked on numerous paths, sympathetically restoring them into the landscape

Future projects have been confirmed for work on the Coast to Coast path - paid for by Natural England - and also through Cotswold Outdoors' sponsorship of the National Trust, which will fund a ranger and further work on Scafell Pike.

With increased visitor footfall responsible for erosion and damage, the organisation said the need to protect the "fragile Cumbrian landscape" had never been greater.

More than 60% of its funding over the past five years came from the European Regional Development Fund, which provided a grant of £1.5m.

It was additionally supported by £1m from the National Trust, Lake District National Park and public donations and grants.

Work carried out at Dovedale has transformed a boggy track into a stone pathway

Fix the Fells partnership manager Isabel Berry said: "We'll still be looking to work with additional donors, whether corporate, individual or charitable to gather additional funding to support the annual programme of maintenance and repairs, and to expand our work.

"Funding for Fix the Fells enables us to protect upland habitats alongside paths including peat, Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and wet flushes."

Every year the team of volunteers and rangers work on 400 miles (643km) of paths across key upland sites in the Lake District.

At Wythburn on the route to Hellvellyn work is under way to close down parallel pathways