National Lottery Heritage Fund awards Suffolk County Council £250,000 to secure future of The Brecks, which includes Thetford Forest

The long-term future of a nature spot which straddles the borders of three counties may be secure.

Suffolk County Council has been awarded £248,073 by the National Heritage Lottery Fund (NLHF) to aid the preservation of The Brecks, which includes Thetford Forest.

The cash will be used to create The Brecks Resilience Project and develop a 10-year plan for the site.

The authority was previously handed a five-year grant of £1.97 million by the NLHF, which led to the creation of The Brecks Fen Edge and Rivers Landscape Partnership Scheme scheme, bringing together more than 60 groups.

Councillor Philip Faircloth-Mutton, from Suffolk County Council, said prior funding ensured management of The Brecks was a huge success.

This benefitted thousands of visitors, schools, volunteers and was a boon to wildlife and the landscape.

He said: “The Brecks is not currently a protected landscape and so it is crucial that our partnership continues to care for its conservation.

“This latest support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund will mean that we can plan for the long-term future of the area.

“There was a strong desire among the existing Brecks stakeholders for the new funding to continue with an overarching partnership, and thanks to National Lottery players we will be able to maintain and develop that.”

The new funding would help secure the area’s long-term future through a variety of activities, including a formal partnership, with the previous project having drawn to a close.

The Brecks covers about 400 sqaure miles on the borders of Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.

More than 12,500 species have been recorded in the area, 2,000 of which were endangered, with 28 per cent of the UK’s rarest species being present, the county council said.