A new project to protect Buckinghamshire’s fragile chalk streams has received funding from the National Lottery.

Chilterns National Landscape is to receive a grant of £351,083 for ‘Not Bourne Yesterday: Chalk Stream Communities of the Chilterns’.

The money will be used to help preserve the chalk streams of the Chilterns and to help communities foster a deeper connection with the waterways through art, archaeology, citizen science, and habitat restoration.

The UK accounts for 85 per cent of global chalk streams, which are fed by water from the chalk aquifer – or bedrock – and are a globally rare habitat.

However, the chalk streams in the Chilterns are among the most endangered habitats in England and face severe threats from low water levels, habitat loss, climate change and pollution.

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This includes pollution by Thames Water, which has faced major criticism over its discharge of sewage into the precious waterways, such as the River Misbourne, which was ‘polluted’ in February during a period of heavy rainfall.

Chilterns National Landscape has warned that the situation will worsen, ‘nearing a critical tipping point’ and that further funding for conservation will be vital to securing the future of the Chilterns chalk streams.

The public body’s heritage and archaeology manager Dr Wendy Morrison said: “We are very excited by the opportunity to develop Not Bourne Yesterday into a suite of projects that will ultimately tell the story of these rivers over thousands of years in the past and connect them with the communities living around them today.”

Not Bourne Yesterday comprises a dozen connected schemes aiming to conserve the environmental and cultural heritage of the chalk streams.

Chilterns National Landscape said it would work with partner organisations and local communities, to ‘discover the 8,000-year story’ of the Chilterns’ chalk streams to explore the ‘everyday’ lives of the people who live near them.

The project aims to create restoration projects that will create more ‘natural’ streams that are reconnected their immediate landscape and to improve accessibility to the streams and encourage people to enjoy nature, including through activities that will promote mental health.

Allen Beechey, project manager of the Chilterns Chalk Streams Project, said: “Through involving local communities in the development and delivery of the project, we hope to embed both a greater understanding of the importance of these rivers and a knowledge of how they can be conserved in future.”

The money granted to Not Bourne Yesterday is what is known as ‘round one’ funding under the National Lottery’s heritage fund.

Chilterns National Landscape’s success in securing the money means it can go on to apply for a full grant of around £2.8 million in the second round to ensure the project is fully completed.

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