THE Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) has been given initial approval for a £1.7m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

A development grant of £105,400 has been awarded to enable the AONB to develop its plans for the area and seek final approval for the full grant amount at a later date.

The Cranborne Chase AONB covers 380 square miles of countryside overlapping the boundaries of Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset.

The grant of £1,684,100 will be used to “help conserve, enhance, understand and learn about the area”.

Linda Nunn, AONB director at Cranborne Chase, said: “Cranborne Chase is a dramatic and historic chalk landscape. Along with a sense of remoteness, tranquillity and dark night skies, it offers a deep sense of place.

“We are absolutely delighted to have received this wonderful grant. It will transform our ability to conserve and enhance this truly outstanding area.

“The Cranborne Chase Landscape Partnership (LP) focuses on the traditional heart of a medieval royal hunting ground and the river valley to the north known locally as the Chalke Valley.

“There have always been historical, natural and social links between the valley and the Chase downland which the LP scheme will explore and reinforce.

“A broad range of activities will allow people to conserve, enhance, understand and learn about their unique heritage. Starting early in 2017, local people will be developing the projects and activities which will also build on the links with the surrounding market towns such as Shaftesbury and Salisbury. The programme will continue until 2024.”

The grant has been made available through the HLF Landscape Partnership programme Ros Kerslake, HLF chief executive, said: “Our historic landscapes are incredibly important to people’s wellbeing and need to be protected. Some of the landscapes we are funding today are in the most remote parts of the UK; others form an important backdrop to some of our largest cities.

“What they all have in common is the potential to make people’s lives better, which is why they are so richly deserving of National Lottery money.”