Origins
Each year the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) invites local partnerships and agencies to apply to its national Landscape Partnership scheme. This first assessment is competitive and only a few go through to the next stage. Those that do are offered Development funding to work up their scheme and a provisional offer of finance for a longer Delivery stage.
Following local consultation and discussion, a group of agencies submitted a Stage 1 bid to the HLF in 2013 to form a Humberhead Levels Landscape Partnership – Isles, Moors & Meadows. This was given a Stage 1 pass in October the same year, and provided an initial grant of £77,513 towards a budget of £97,500 for a Development Phase to work up a Stage 2 bid. HLF also reserved a notional allocation of £1,913,300 for the Landscape Partnership, pending the successful submission of a comprehensive Landscape Conservation Action Plan (LCAP) to cover the period 2016-2020, and beyond.
The initial grant allowed the fledgling Landscape Partnership to start in April 2014 with the appointment of a dedicated Project Officer to help to draw together partners, projects, budget and plans. After further consideration, approval was sought from the HLF to allow the title of the Landscape Partnership to be changed. From 25 June 2014 it became the Isle of Axholme and Hatfield Chase Landscape Partnership.