The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has announced that 11 UK schemes are in line to receive a share of a cash pot worth £18.3m through the Landscape Partnership (LP) programme.

Among those earmarked funding are Morecambe Bay (£2m); Lindisfarne, Northumberland (£1.98m); and Living Wandle, London, and South Dorset Ridgeway (£1.9m). Other LP schemes in line for support include Lower Derwent Valley (£1.85m); The Living Lomonds, Fife (£1.8m); and Tay, Perth, and Heart of the Glens in County Antrim (£1.5m).

Stiperstones and Cordon Hill Country on the mid-Wales border (£1.4m); Gower Peninsula (£1.3m) and Suffolk Heritage Coast (£896,800) complete the 11 areas poised to benefit. The funding is designed to go towards conservation efforts in the respective areas, as well as the provision of training opportunities for disadvantaged young people.

HLF chair Dame Jenny Abramsky said: "Landscapes speak to the heart, inspiring people in all sorts of ways: be it poetry-writing, architectural design or even just the pleasure of looking at a beautiful view. "The Heritage Lottery Fund, as one of the UK's biggest funders of the natural heritage, believes the way forward is to put local communities in the driving seat so they can take care of the places that are the backdrop to their daily lives."

Environment minister Richard Benyon added: "This funding will allow people to come together and learn valuable skills which will benefit the environment around them, protecting wildlife and maintaining our cultural heritage for years to come." Image: Morecambe Bay