Lloyds Banking Group makes £50k investment

Project to reduce flood risk to Keswick gains support from major investor

The team at West Cumbria Rivers Trust are celebrating as Lloyds Banking Group has selected their ‘Resilient Glenderamackin’ project as one of three projects in the country to fund through a pioneering funding platform, Projects for Nature.

The project is one of the largest catchment-based projects in the country and supported by The Rivers Trust and Nature Finance. It aims to deliver nature-based solutions to reduce flood risk to Keswick whilst restoring nature and mitigating against climate change in the 142km2 Glendermackin catchment. Not only will the project benefit the communities downstream of the Glenderamackin valley, it is being co-designed with farmers and will work in support of land managers and their businesses to ensure that the solutions employed benefit everyone involved and are sustainable into the future.

Interventions will include re-wiggling rivers, planting trees and restoring wetlands. The team want to re-naturalise 4km of river, improving the condition of soils and grasslands, create 185 hectares of new woodland and 185 hectares of scrub land, restore 45 hectares of ponds and wetlands, plant 6.3km of bunded floodplain hedges and 7km of ‘normal’ hedges and restore 30 hectares of peatland.

The project recently achieved a long-term environmental commitment from the Government by successfully becoming a DEFRA Landscape Recovery pilot. Between 2018 and 2022 it has delivered Natural Flood Management and habitat enhancement works through working closely with a number of local farmers and landowners. The Landscape Recovery application had the support of more than 40 land managers covering 11,000Ha (including three commons associations). Now these measures need to be delivered at scale, whilst developing a way to pay farmers and landowners to look after interventions for the long term.

The project team have developed an innovative financial model that links buyers and sellers of ecosystems services. A blend of public and private finance will allow farmers to be appropriately financed to host and maintain nature-based solutions on their land for 20+ years, supporting upland farming and ensuring their sustainability into the future.

The team are looking to work with local, regional and national businesses to build cases to financially support the project as they move toward to start delivery in 2025. To find out more visit our Project page.

Vikki Salas, Assistant Director of West Cumbria Rivers Trust said:

“We’re delighted that Lloyds have chosen to invest in Resilient Glendermackin. This funding enables us to work closely with other private businesses to develop cases for investment in the project, both locally and further afield. This is an important project for our sector, and we hope to share any learnings to help unlock further support from the financial sector for important projects of this nature across the country.”