A TWIN bid will be launched to bolster the chances of red squirrel survival in the North East.

The Heritage Lottery Fund will today award £247,700 to the to the Red Squirrels Northern England project (RSNE).

The RSNE project was launched in February by Prince Charles at Hutton-in-the-Forest in Cumbria, and is a partnership between the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, Natural England, the Forestry Commission, The Wildlife Trusts and red squirrel volunteer groups across the North. The project aims to maintain and, where possible, increase the size of red squirrel populations within 17 designated stronghold areas and includes the targeted control of grey squirrels.

Its HLF award will finance a drive to build up existing red squirrel volunteers groups, create new ones, and hold community awareness-raising events.

And the project has also received a pledge of £350,000 a year for three years from waste services company Biffa, which will pay for the recruitment in January of a 12-strong grey squirrel control team.

They will concentrate on the 17 red squirrel reserve areas in the North of England and the approaches to these areas, especially rivers, along which the greys are moving.

The HLF-funded activities, which will be run from Northumberland Wildlife Trust, will include red squirrel walks and talks, and work with school pupils, who will go on field trips and learn how to record and monitor red squirrel activity.

Volunteers will play a key role in the project and will receive training in order to adopt a woodland, undertaking regular squirrel monitoring to detect red and grey squirrel presence or absence within a specified area.

The first year of the project in Northumberland will focus on Rothbury, Wark, Cornhill-upon-Tweed, Slaley and the Cramlington, Bedlington and Ashington area.

This year the project has been carrying out grey control in Slaley, backed by a £50,000 grant from waste management Sita’s award scheme.

Nick Mason, project manager for Red Squirrels Northern England, said that the HLF cash would help establish an “intelligence network” of local groups which would plot red and grey movements in their areas and either carry our grey control themselves or pass on information to the control team.

“Long-term community-level support is essential for red squirrel conservation,” said Mr Mason.

“We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund can help us develop new grass-roots red squirrel conservation activity in Northumberland. Effective local red squirrel groups, like those in Ponteland and the Upper Coquet, make a huge conservation contribution and this project will encourage new groups to form and existing groups to grow.”

Sally Hardy, secretary of Ponteland Red Squirrel Group, said: “This exciting funding will help local groups grow their skills and capacity, while allowing us to offer assistance to new communities interested in conserving red squirrels. The Northumberland groups can’t wait to get started.”

Ivor Crowther, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund North East, said: “We have some wonderful native wildlife in the North East and collectively we have a responsibility to ensure their survival.

“This project will give people of all ages the opportunity to learn more about the red squirrel, help monitor and record squirrel activity and the role it plays in the North East’s ecosystem.

“The Heritage Lottery Fund is proud to be a part of this project.”