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The Lord Heseltine will officially open the River Kennet and Millennium Fish Pass Project on Monday 1 October. This initiative, supported by the Millennium Commission lottery grant of over £700,000, has been brought to fruition by the Thames Salmon Trust and the Environment Agency. It is bringing salmon back to the River Thames by creating 'fish passes' in several weirs along the River Kennet, a key tributary of the River Thames. It received a Millennium Commission grant of over £700,000. The new chain of fish passes, from Blakes' Lock to Hamstead Marshall beyond Newbury, enables salmon to swim over the top of weirs and offers a real chance for a new salmon population to thrive in the Thames for the first time in over 150 years. Although the work is focusing on the salmon population, the passes are designed to benefit as broad a range of fish as possible. Salmon have been returning slowly to the Thames for about 25 years, but environmental changes and man-made obstructions have had a detrimental effect on fish stocks. The new fish passes will encourage biodiversity in the Rivers Kennet and Thames and benefit the ecosystem. Millennium Commissioner Lord Heseltine, said, "Ensuring that our children inherit a healthy and sustainable environment must surely be one of the most important issues of the new millennium. The Millennium Commission is proud to provide lottery money to projects such as the River Kennet and Millennium Fish Pass which are ensuring the legacy of a cleaner and greener future for us all." The Millennium Commission is distributing a total of over £2 billion of lottery money across the UK with nearly a third going to environmental projects, Award schemes and community festivals. Projects range from initiatives such as the Millennium Seed Bank in West Sussex, which is preserving thousands of endangered seeds, to the internationally renowned Eden Project in Cornwall and the thousands of new woodlands and miles of cycle paths and canal restorations across the UK. In addition, 18,000 small grants have also been given to individuals across the UK to put a bright idea into practice to benefit themselves and their wider community through the Millennium Awards Scheme. A huge range of innovative projects have been undertaken from artists skills sharing groups to community support groups. -ends- Notes to Editors The Millennium Commission is one of the good causes funded by the National Lottery. - The Millennium Commission has also supported:
- Around 200 new buildings, environmental projects and visitor attractions on over 3000 sites across the UK.
- A UK-wide programme of community festivals which began on New Year?s Eve 1999 and culminated on New Year?s Eve 2000 with celebrations in 32 towns and cities across the UK.
- The Millennium Experience at Greenwich and the National Programme.
- The Millennium Commission also works with over 100 Awards Partner organisations to distribute Millennium Awards to individuals for community based projects. 18,000 people have already received a Millennium Award and there are still thousands of Awards available. Further information is available on 0800 06801 2000.
For further information contact:
The Millennium Commission Press Office on 020 7880 2007, out of hours 07775 573263. The Millennium Commission websites can be accessed atwww.millennium.gov.uk and www.starpeople.org.uk For television enquiries please contact Marc Leuw at The Television Consultancy on 020 7435 4343. back to top Copyright © 2000 The Millennium Commission
Millennium Commission 28th-September-2001
Categories: News Archive
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