HC Deb 12 May 1998 vol 312 c59W
Mr. Bennett

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many grants have been made from the National Lottery(a) to encourage walking and footpath development and restoration and (b) to increase access to the countryside. [40431]

Mr. Banks

The Lottery distributors estimate they have awarded some £440 million to projects designed to encourage walking, footpath development and restoration, and access to the countryside. The distributors do not however record these awards separately. Details are set out in the table:

Distributor Number of awards Value of awards (£)
Arts Council for England1 0 0
English Sports Council 389 51,593,435
Scottish Arts Council 0 0
Scottish Sports Council 27 1,954,154
Arts Council for Wales 0 0
Sports Council for Wales 5 159,327
Arts Council for Northern Ireland 0 0
Sports Council for Northern Ireland 0 0
Heritage Lottery Fund 356 153,679,679
Millennium Commission 33 232,991,684
National Lottery Charities Board 12 554,215
Total 822 440,932,494
1 ACE has made some 375 capital grants totalling £370 million to rural projects. Some of these will cover the areas specified but they cannot be precisely identified.