The six-year Clyde and Avon Valley Landscape Partnership is coming to end, after a £4.8million investment into 68 different projects.

The Partnership undertook projects to conserve landscape features and connect people to the area through new trails, community events, web resources, play and volunteering.

A new film has been produced showing highlights of the programme.

Programme highlights celebrated in the film and available in the report include:

• 300 volunteers doing 17,000 hours of work.

• 7600 young people engaged through arts, heritage, outdoor play activities and active travel.

• 15,000 native trees planted in new woodlands at Carbarns (North Lanarkshire), Carluke Golf Club and the Nethan Gorge.

• 20km paths improved and 22 new trails described along with 89 local places, heritage sites and other resources

• 25 hectares of woodland improved by removing conifers, particularly at Chatelherault Country Park where the work also revealed the gorge landscape again.


• 1800 fruit trees planted across 21 school, community and private orchards.

• Thousands of local people enjoyed community workshops, festivals and events.

• Two new local community interest companies and one orchard co-operative formed.

The projects took place in the 192 squared km of the Clyde and Avon valleys, stretching from Hamilton to New Lanark and Strathaven respectively, taking in sites including Chatelherault Country Park and the six Clyde Valley Woodlands National Nature Reserve (NNR), Dalzell Estate, Baron's Haugh and New Lanark.

Kirsten Robb, Manager at CAVLP, said: "The Clyde and Avon Valleys are incredibly beautiful and communities are rightly proud of the local area. The programme's legacy will continue long into the future with site owners better able to manage this unique natural and historic environment and more people enjoying new trails and information about the area. New skills, working relationships and friendships that developed will also continue to bear fruit. We'd like to say an enormous thank you to all the funders, partners and volunteers who embraced the projects with such enthusiasm and made them a great success."

The programme was supported by ten key delivery partners: South Lanarkshire Council, North Lanarkshire Council, Central Scotland Green Network Trust, Clydesdale Community Initiatives, New Lanark Trust, Northlight Heritage, Rural Development Trust, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and Scottish Wildlife Trust Falls of Clyde.

Nine new projects for 2018/19 aim to build on the achievements of the Landscape Partnership.

(CM/LM)