£1.9m bonus for Pennines project

Pennine Prospects (the Southern Pennines Regeneration Company) will use the funding to support the Watershed Landscape Project. This aims to promote landscape restoration, access and heritage projects in the area.

The chairman of Pennine Prospects, Pam Warhurst, said: "This is great news for the South Pennines. Alongside our successful South Pennines Leader Programme, Pennine Prospects working with its partners has secured over 4.5m for heritage, environmental and access projects in the area."

The South Pennines Watershed Landscape is the upland habitat where rainwater is divided east from west – North Sea from Irish Sea, Lancashire from Yorkshire.

More than a million people live in or around the South Pennines yet the uplands feel remote and have inspired artists and writers over generations from the Bronts to Ted Hughes, from Henry Moore to Barbara Hepworth.

The Watershed Landscape marks the stories of two great watersheds in history where the impact of people changed the landscape, the arrival of agriculture and the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Yorkshire and the Humber region, Fiona Spiers, said: "We are extremely lucky to have this beautiful countryside on our doorstep. People love this area and have been enthralled by it for centuries. Its restoration, which will now be made possible by the hard work of Pennine Prospects and the partnership funding they have generated, will see that history come to life. We are thrilled to be able to play a part in sustaining this valuable part of the region's heritage."

The project's highlights include the appointment of both a community archaeologist and interpretation officer for the Watershed Landscape Pennines andimproved paths in the Upper Colne Valley, on Ilkley Moor, Scammonden and Cant Clough reservoirs.

It will also include mapping and interpreting the unique Bronze Age landscape including the nationally important "cup and ring" stones on Rombalds Moor; supporting the RSPB initiatives to save the rare twite, known locally as the Pennine finch, and restoring traditional features in the landscape including boundary walls, sheepfolds or shooting lodges.

The project will research the history of coal in the Pennines from medieval times to the present and six artists and writers will be commissioned to work with residents and visitors on new writing and visual arts.

There will also be archaeology and geology workshops open to residents and visitors.

Pennine Prospects was formed in 2005 to act as a champion for the South Pennines and co-ordinate regeneration activity that will conserve and enhance the landscape and heritage.

The South Pennines area is the only upland landscape in England not to have the benefit of an official Protected Landscape designation – such as National Park or Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – with the protection and resources that it brings.

The Watershed Landscape Project is a partnership managed by Pennine Prospects with the following partners: Yorkshire Water, United Utilities, Rochdale Council, Oldham Council, RSPB, Calderdale Council, Kirklees Council, Bradford Council, Natural England, Lancashire County Council, National Trust, Groundwork, West Yorkshire Geology Trust, Friends of Ilkley Moor.