§ Mr. BennettTo 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. BanksThe 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.