We're pleased to announce that we have received a £250,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to promote the unique status of Allonby Bay, a five-and-a-half mile crescent-shaped bay on the Solway Firth. 

The National Lottery award will be used to bring together local communities to celebrate the special wildlife at Allonby Bay, to protect its important habitats and revive a sense of place, community and economy.

Allonby Bay is home to a hidden world of unusual and varied marine life, including many different species of sponge, soft coral, sea squirt, anemone and reef-building honeycomb worms. In 2023 it was one of just three sites across the country to be given the gold standard of protection by the Government who designated it England’s first inshore Highly Protected Marine Area (HPMA).

The Allonby Bay HPMA covers the area from Allonby to Bank End Farm (roughly three miles) and extends approximately three and a half miles out to sea. 

Joe Harper is our newly-appointed Allonby Bay Engagement Officer. He’ll be working alongside local people and businesses, to bring a greater understanding of what the designation of HPMA means and a clearer idea of how they can benefit from it.

Joe will run volunteer sessions and training courses to create a pool of skilled citizen scientists who will help to monitor the North West coastline. He’ll work with marine champions who will help others learn about and embrace this important designation.

We hope that the two-year project will create positive change for local people and the marine environment across north-west Cumbria, and will open the door for further HPMAs across the country. 

Joe Harper said:

“We’re very grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for supporting our community work at Allonby Bay. Local people are rightly proud of this incredible corner of Cumbria. Thanks to National Lottery players, I’ll be working with them, to celebrate this wonderful stretch of our Cumbrian coastline and further promote its special status. 

“The sea at Allonby Bay hides a world of marine life – some species live on the muddy ocean floor, others are just beneath the waves. The sea here is home to weird and wonderful life like sea squirts, anemones, reef-building honeycomb worms, cuttlefish plaice, skate and thornback rays. It’s also a potential pupping area for harbour porpoises. 

“But our seas right across the UK are under pressure like never before, including here in Cumbria. Decades of over-exploitation and damaging activities have resulted in continued loss of species and some marine habitats are really degraded.

“Allonby Bay is actually in a pretty good state and so it was designated to safeguard its wildlife and habitats, and to help us further understand the ecological impact of removing any remaining pressures. 

“We’ll be spreading the word about what you can still do in the protected area, such as swim, kayak and scuba dive, as well as activities which aren’t allowed in this zone, such as fishing, construction or digging. We’ll work alongside communities, including fishing and other businesses, to clarify what the designation means, where the boundary is, what’s possible within and around this area, and how the HPMA can benefit them.

“Other communities will look to us at Allonby Bay, to learn about how this gold standard of protection can help nature recover. We hope they’ll take inspiration from us, when more HPMAs are created across the country.”

We're working in conjunction with Allonby Parish Council, Marine Management Organisation, Natural England, North West Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority, Solway National Landscape and Solway Firth Partnership.