Cash boost to give volunteers chance to go wild in city

A CONSERVATION charity has been given 300,000 to involve 20,000 Leeds people in making their city greener.

British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (btCv) has been given the Lottery grant to fund a three-year project to get people to create their own wildlife sites across the city and beyond.

A BTCV spokesman said the money would pay for Access to Nature in Leeds, a project working with volunteers to create “welcoming, well managed, wildlife rich sites across Leeds”.

The aim is to get 20,000 people off their sofas and into the outdoors to help improve the environment. One of the priorities is to involve less well-off communities in the city.

The grant has been given to BTCV by Natural England as a part of the Big Lottery’s Changing Spaces programme.

BTCV area manager Caroline Crossley said: “So many people have worked hard to secure this funding for Leeds, and it is a positive recognition of the huge contribution volunteering brings to the city’s natural environment.

“I would encourage as many people as possible to check out the www.accessnatureleeds.org website to see how they can get involved.”

The BTCV spokesman added: “BTCV wants to create a more sustainable future in Leeds by inspiring people and improving places, creating a better environment where people are valued, included and involved.

“To do this, BTCV’s two centres Hollybush and Skelton Grange Environment Centre will provide a programme of opportunities for volunteering, environmental and conservation skills training, education and natural play, walks and wildlife gardening.

“The project will also be working with Leeds Voice, making sure that the community’s views on Leeds’s natural environment are included in the city’s longer- term decision making, so that the positive experiences of Access to Nature in Leeds will last well beyond the project itself.”