A £50,000 grant of landfill tax cash is to be ploughed into Ilkley Moor in the latest funding secured by the Friends of Ilkley Moor.

The friends group has been award the money from environmental body WREN (Waste Recycling Environmental Limited), a not-for-profit business which awards grants to community projects from funds donation by Waste Recycling Group.

The latest cash injection will continue the Friends’ work tackling bracken which has taken over parts of the landscape, and improving paths for walkers.

Work on the project is expected to be carried out this year and next.

Friends’ project officer, Tracy Gray, said: “This is wonderful news, and will fund the control of bracken on the lower slopes of the moor adjacent to footpaths, and areas popular with the public – Cow and Calf Rocks, and other sites of interest.

“Money will also be spent on work re-surfacing footpaths. I hope to organise and supervise volunteer parties to help Bradford Council undertake the works. This will increase the work already completed on more than 1,500 metres of paths on the moor.”

The Friends of Ilkley Moor has expressed its thanks to all those groups and organisations which supported the application for the funding of the project, she said.

WREN was established in 1997 to fund projects which are eligible for funding under the Landfill Communities Fund. The company receives the majority of its funding from the landfill tax levied by Waste Recycling Group.

It offers funding between £15,000 and £75,000 in the main grants scheme, as well as smaller sums for small environmental improvement projects.

The Friends, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this year, also raises money through memberships, donations and a ‘give as you earn’ scheme.

The group has so far helped fund more than 1,500 metres of restoration and resurfacing pathways on the moor, providing better access for visitors and helping keep walkers to the paths, to avoid erosion.

The Friends also recently secured a £2,000 donation from the producers of ITV soap Emmerdale, after raising concerns about a TV shoot churning up the ground on part of the moor.

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