PEOPLE from East Lancashire are being invited to become part of a scheme aimed at reconnecting people with Pendle Hill’s landscape, wildlife and heritage.

Up to 15 people from the region are being sought to be part of the new Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership Board, which will be responsible for improving peoples’ access to the area.

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The board will also be made up of representatives from Lancashire County Council, Pendle Borough Council, Ribble Valley Borough Council, parish councillors, farmers, landowners and the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The board will help to create a series of projects across the 120sq km area aimed at boosting the environment, building the economy and providing opportunities.

The inaugural meeting of the board is due to be staged on Wednesday, March 18, with the time and venue still to be confirmed.

Members of the board will be able to review and assess the performance and direction of the Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership and recommend changes if required.

They will also comment on reports, monitor the budget, help to secure match funding and set up working groups.

Among the projects that have already been earmarked are managing the Pendle Hill Fund to support community-led projects focusing on heritage, landscape and the environment, developing visitor hubs and delivering community archaeology projects and heritage placements.

The programme is currently estimated to cost £2.4 million and will require a grant of £1.8 million from Heritage Lottery Fund, which the board is due to bid for in June 2015.

If the funding bid is successful the programme will enter a development stage, and delivery will be expected to begin in 2018 and run for four years.

The remaining £600,000 will be raised from partners including the AONB Partnership, statutory bodies including Natural England and Environment Agency, European Rural Development Programme funding, Landfill tax funds, local businesses and other grants.

Over the next four years, the programme is due to create at least five full-time jobs, create more than 20 apprenticeship placements and provide annual heritage placements for university students.

A spokesman for the partnership said: “A landmark of Pennine Lancashire, Pendle Hill will become a focus for bringing town and country people together to understand, restore and celebrate the distinctive landscape and heritage of this much loved and inspiring place.

“At 557m Pendle Hill is very nearly a mountain, and its relative isolation on the edge of the Pennines and the Bowland Fells makes it appear very dominant in the landscape.

“Pendle Hill acts as a weather vane to many of us, and is a constant backdrop to our lives, yet it has two very different and divided sides.”

For more information on the programme or if you would like to be a member of the board, call 01200 448000 or e-mail bow land@lancashire.gov.uk