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A Land and Nature Skills Service (LANSS) for Cumbria

Local leaders in education, business, farming and wildlife conservation are delighted to announce a Land and Nature Skills Service for Cumbria with major grants from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme.

The goal is to improve access to learning and training for farming, forestry and environmental jobs in the county. The Service will also support existing businesses enhance skills to adapt to changing demands. The challenges and opportunities for our County include securing sustainable food production, adapting to the changing climate and nature recovery.

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Dr Helen Manns, Director of the Institute of Science and Environment at University of Cumbria, (left) explained: “The Land and Nature Skills Service, or LANSS, has been designed in collaboration with over 50 organisations prompted in part by the loss of Newton Rigg, Cumbria’s former specialist further education college for the land-based sector.”

Over 70 per cent of Cumbria’s land is farmed; Adam Day of the Farmer Network said; “The Farmer Network is keen to support LANSS to ensure that there are opportunities for all to work in the countryside, and that a broad and balanced range of skills and knowledge can be accessed to benefit farming and nature together.”

Steve Trotter of Cumbria Wildlife Trust said: “This is a very exciting and important initiative for Cumbria: helping to train and develop Cumbria’s farmers and land managers in the broad range of skills they will need in future is going to be vital to sustain a vibrant rural economy and a healthy natural environment.”

The new service is not a training provider itself, rather a hub linking learners, training providers and businesses and reaching out to young people and businesses . It will have three staff members employed by the Cumbria Chamber of Commerce and based at the University of Cumbria’s Ambleside campus.

Suzanne Caldwell, MD of the Cumbria Chamber explained their involvement; “We urgently need this co-ordinated service to support skills development. Skills underpin a thriving land based economy and our local businesses. The Chamber are therefore delighted to be the accountable body for the partnership running LANSS.”

In addition to the University and Chamber the governing board running LANSS includes Cumbria Wildlife Trust, The Farmer Network, Westmorland & Furness Council, Cumberland Council and the North Pennines Natural Landscape.

Julia Aglionby, Professor in Practice at the University of Cumbria and Commissioner of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission has been involved from the start.

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She said: “What is so important is we have local leaders from farming, conservation, education and local government all pulling together. The LANSS is a home grown service for Cumbria – to give opportunities to all and so drive forward our future economic and social well-being from Cumbria’s stunning and much valued land, nature and people.

"Planning for the service was coordinated by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission over the last three years. Additional funding has come from the Department for Education, Westmorland and Furness Council’s Climate and Nature Partnership Fund and Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership we are now ready to start work. Match-funding has also been pledged by the Governing Board and Steering Group members meaning the Land and Nature Skills Service means will be free to all."

ENDS

Notes to editors

For any queries please contact Julia Aglionby, Professor in Practice University of Cumbria and Commissioner for the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission

Contact Details: 07702 100111   julia.aglionby@cumbria.ac.uk

  1. Functions of the LANSS will include coordinating and communicating relevant training opportunities and promoting skilled careers in this sector, which includes farming, forestry and conservation. The service will benefit local people, businesses and training providers and celebrate the varied local opportunities in land- and nature-based work: important jobs for Cumbria’s economy, communities and landscape.
  2. The new service will include a comprehensive online directory of training opportunities, in-person advice on skill development pathways, and a service team hosted at University of Cumbria’s Ambleside campus. Those using the service may be employed or self-employed in the land and nature workforce or looking to move into these careers, they may also be volunteers and people seeking lifelong learning opportunities. The service will engage directly with schools and colleges, and with disadvantaged groups and communities which are underrepresented in the sector.
  1. With thanks to Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for their major grant to implement the service and for funding the prior development work; thanks to Defra’s Funding in Protected Landscape Programme (FiPL), Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, Westmorland & Furness Council, Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, University of Cumbria, Skills Hub Cumbria, Department for Education and Ernest Cook Trust for funding granted or pledged;
  1. Thanks to Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, University of Cumbria, The Farmer Network, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, North Pennines National Landscape Partnership, Cumberland Council and Westmorland & Furness Council for in-kind contributions and leadership in the present phase of work; and thanks to Food, Farming & Countryside Commission for coordinating the service design and local facilitation.
  2. North Pennines National Landscape Partnership represents the Protected Areas in Cumbria on the Governing Board.

Land and Nature Skills Service (LANSS) for Cumbria 

Executive Summary

Purpose

To develop a skilled, inclusive workforce fit for the future of land- and nature-based work in and near Cumbria, meeting the needs of communities and our natural environment.

Functions of the Service

  • To connect people with learning and training opportunities relevant to land- and nature-based work in and near Cumbria, for adults and young people aged 16+.
  • To co-ordinate across the sector to enable the most effective array of learning and training opportunities to be offered, linking with wider skills and employment activities and providing strategic leadership.
  • To promote land- and nature-based work in and near Cumbria, with realism and inclusivity.

The LANSS will not be a training provider but will improve access to work-related skills.

Service User Groups

  • Learners and their advisors.
  • Providers of learning and training opportunities.
  • Employers in the land and nature sector in and near Cumbria.

The LANSS will reach younger people through schools, colleges, careers services and community events as well as online, and will connect with a place-based curriculum for Cumbria, which is under development separately.

Inclusivity

The LANSS will support skills for all, for work across the broad land- and nature- related employment sector. By taking an inclusive approach to all its activities and recognising the diversity of individuals in its potential user groups, the LANSS can address barriers to accessing skill development and support equality and diversity in the sector.

Prior development

Plans for the Service are derived from a scoping study involving 50+ stakeholder organisations across 2022, co-ordinated by Food, Farming & Countryside Commission and funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.