Written question WQ87328

The overarching aim of the Local Places for Nature Programme is to aid local communities create spaces for nature to thrive at people’s doorsteps in Wales. The figure of £23.4 million of capital funding relates to the proposed profiled funding for 2023 to 2025. The Local Places for Nature future funding is subject to budget confirmation, ongoing procurement and several grant rounds before funding is allocated to projects. Whilst a breakdown of future projects will only be possible once these processes are complete, this capital grant funding is to be managed by three scheme managers and delivered through schemes including:

• A Community Packages Scheme granted through ‘pre-paid’ packages to allow small community groups create wildlife and community growing spaces.

• Delivery through the Local Nature Partnerships, in each Local Authority and the three National Parks in Wales.

• A competitive grant scheme run via the National Lottery Heritage Fund focusing on areas of deprivation and the Breaking Barriers scheme, building capacity in disadvantaged and marginalised communities

Each of the programme scheme managers, as part of the funding conditions, publishes online the projects delivered and reports to Welsh Government appropriately detailing the outcomes and impact of the capital grant funding. Examples of projects can be found at:

Local Places for Nature – Community Packages Scheme

Local Places for Nature - Local Nature Partnerships

LNP Cymru: Local Nature Partnership Project Mapping Portal

Local Places for Nature programme delivery is also summarised in independent evaluation reports published by Welsh Government at the completion of each funding period. The 2020-2021 evaluation report is available online.