Nearly £2m Lottery grant backs 16 habitat sites across four Welsh valleys
A three-year habitat programme across the Afan, Neath, Upper Cynon and Rhondda valleys has secured almost £2 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Neath Port Talbot Council announced the award for Lost Peatlands Connections on 9 October. The programme is planned to cover 16 sites across almost 870 hectares of upland landscape. It includes peatland, heathland, grassland and woodland work, with delivery expected to start in October 2026.
Funding and conditions
- Lottery funding
- Almost £2m
- Total project value
- Almost £2.6m
- Sites
- 16
- Area
- Almost 870 hectares
- Programme
- Three years
The grant and the wider budget
The Lottery award is not the whole project budget. The council puts the total value, including match funding and partner contributions, at almost £2.6 million. The published figures are rounded, so they do not establish an exact funding gap or a precise contribution from each partner. Neath Port Talbot’s Countryside and Wildlife Team leads the programme. Partners include Natural Resources Wales, the Woodland Trust, Coed Lleol, the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and Vattenfall.
What residents will be able to take part in
Five new walking routes and interpretation features are planned alongside volunteering, outdoor learning, wellbeing activities, heritage skills training and public events. The council also describes an explorer app, virtual-reality material and a podcast series. These are planned outputs, not a claim that the routes or activities are already open. The council directs people interested in getting involved to the Lost Peatlands project’s updates or lostpeatlands@npt.gov.uk.
What the landscape work aims to achieve
The project aims to reconnect habitats and improve biodiversity, carbon storage and climate resilience. Peatland restoration is also intended to contribute to natural flood management and wildfire mitigation. The announcement does not give a quantified carbon-saving target or measured flood-risk reduction. Those benefits remain the programme’s aims, with the three-year delivery period providing the window in which the work is to take place.
Background and supporting figures
Where this sits
Almost £2m is the Lottery grant; almost £2.6m is the total including partner contributions and match funding. Rounded values cannot yield an exact funding gap.
The three-year plan covers 16 sites across four valleys, including habitats beyond peatland; the five routes are planned rather than already opened.