Project Period : January 2008 – December 2011

Total Project Budget: €4.7 million

Total funding generated for Kent Countryside: €2.6 million

Funding from : European Regional Development Fund, Interreg IVA France (Channel) – England Programme

Project Partners : There are seven French partners including the PNR des Caps et Marais d’Opale which is the French equivalent to an English AONB, Nord Nature Chico Mendes, Conservatoire des Sites Naturels du Nord et du Pas de Calais, Les Blongios, Institut Catholique de Lille, Centre Regionale de la Propriété Forestière Nord Pas de Calais, Espaces Naturels Régionaux.

Kent County Council have supported the Kent Downs AONB application and other Kent partners include the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV), the Kent Reptile and Amphibian Group, Kent Wildlife Trust, the Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership , Medway Valley Countryside Partnership, White Cliffs Countryside Partnership, Mid Kent Downs Countryside Partnership, Wildlife Landscapes, Peter Buckley Associates, the Valley of Visions Project , Woodland Trust, Plantlife and the Forestry Commission.

 Landscape and Nature for All – Project Overview

The Kent Downs and the PNR des Caps et Marais d’Opale have teamed up with 19 other partners in Kent and France to apply for a €4.7 million funding package to be spent in Kent and the Pas de Calais region in France. The application to the Interreg IVA France (Channel) – England Programme has been approved.

We are very pleased to continue a long relationship with our French colleagues and equally thrilled that so many organisations have come together with the joint purpose of improving the Kent countryside for people and biodiversity. This is a great achievement for Kent and the Transmanche region in France.

The ‘Landscape and Nature for All’ (LNA) project has been funded through the Interreg IVA France (Channel) – England Cross Border Cooperation Programme. This Programme aims to improve cooperation within the Transmanche region which stretches from Cornwall to Finistère. The project runs from 2008 to 2011 and will work on a series of measures in Kent and Pas de Calais including improved access to the countryside, education events, chalk grassland restoration, woodland management and special projects on adder and bat populations.

The actions planned within the Landscape and Nature for All project are divided into the following themes:

• Chalk Grassland
• Eco-corridors
• Education and Awareness
• Key Species: Bats & Adders
• Network of AONBs & PNRs
• Strategy and Research
• Wetland
• Woodland