8th
November
2009
First Year Success Announced for Scout Moor Habitat Restoration Fund
Stewart Lowther, Consultancy Director at Atmos Consulting, developed an innovative ecology fund at Peel Energy's Scout Moor wind farm, and one year on the results have been extremely impressive.
Stewart was the main driving force behind the innovative fund, which will award £400,000 over the lifespan of the wind farm, which is the largest in England, specifically to ecological restoration projects on up to 500ha of blanket bog and upland wader habitats within the surrounding area.
The idea for the initiative came to Stewart in the run-up to the Public Inquiry into the controversial wind farm project, at which he was an expert witness. Stewart was involved from day one of Peel Energy's development and familiar with the need for funding to improve the ecological integrity of the moorlands to the west of the windfarm.
Stewart said: "The windfarm came online last September and we have just received the progress reports from the four projects that were financed by the ecological fund. We gave out £42,000 to four projects last year after receiving a number of applications and the results have been great.
"The areas where all the projects have been undertaken don't normally attract a lot of funding, so we've had a lot of interest. One project in particular has had remarkable results, through the re-wetting of former peat workings that has led to a marked recovery of botanical flora. We think the area should become very attractive to wildlife and we're now looking to extend the project to other degraded areas nearby."
Stewart acts as an adviser to the funding panel which distributes funding to applicants. As well as supporting projects that wouldn't normally receive funding from other avenues, the board is a sterling example of a collaborative approach between consultants, local authorities and developers. Stewart sits on the funding panel with a representative from Peel Energy and two ecologists from the two local authorities that share the wind farm site – Rochdale and Rossendale.
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