Fix the Fells

Fix the Fells
Formation2001
TypeCharitable organisation
Region
Lake District of England
Programme Manager
Isabel Berry
Staff26
Volunteers110
WebsiteOfficial website

Fix the Fells is a conservation programme set up as a partnership between the Lake District National Park, National Trust, Natural England, Lake District Foundation, Friends of the Lake District and Cumbria County Council. Fix the Fells carries out work to combat erosion of footpaths in the English Lake District (a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2017).[1][2]

The organisation was established on 18 August 2001, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, in order to protect the landscape and wildlife in the Lake District mountains. In the following 20 years, it has spent almost £10 million on repairing damaged paths and eroded fell landscapes (including numerous Special Areas of Conservation and Sites of Special Scientific Interest). It has also received financial support from the Rural Payments Agency and the European Regional Development Fund. Fix the Fells repairs and maintains 344 upland paths, covering 410 miles (660 km).[3][4][5][6]

From 2001 the repair work was carried out by rangers, from the National Trust and Lake District National Park, working with local contractors. A volunteer scheme was launched in 2007 to assist four teams of rangers and there are now over 100 volunteer ‘lengthsmen’ (a medieval term for someone paid to repair roads and ditches across the length of a parish).[3][7]

Fix the Fells was featured on the BBC programme “The Lakes with Simon Reeve” on Sunday 21st November 2021.[8]

In 2022, Fix The Fells was the winner of the Park Protector Award from the Campaign for National Parks.[9]

Footpaths to Scafell Pike

References

  1. ^ "Home". www.fixthefells.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  2. ^ "An introduction to the Lake District World Heritage Site". National Trust. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Fix the Fells Twentieth Anniversary". www.fixthefells.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  4. ^ "Path Fixing Projects". www.fixthefells.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  5. ^ "Fix the Fells appeal". National Trust. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  6. ^ "Fix the Fells". Lake District National Park. 18 August 2005. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  7. ^ "Volunteer Lengthsmen". www.fixthefells.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  8. ^ "Target set for Lakes Fix the Fell project". The Westmorland Gazette. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  9. ^ "Interview with Park Protector Awards 2022 winners Fix the Fells | Campaign for National Parks". www.cnp.org.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2022.