WORK to provide a better environment for endangered water voles has won lottery funding.

Lakes at the Minsteracres Retreat Centre, near Consett, County Durham, will be cleared of weeds and the banks will be cleared to allow voles to nest and feed.

The Wind In The Willows project has been awarded £9,200 from the Big Lottery Fund for a year-long project to improve wildlife habitats on the 110-acre estate and provide training opportunities for people

In addition, it will offer the opportunity to create a coppice of trees to use for green wood working with up to 1,000 willow, alder, birch and ash to be planted in February next year.

The fast-growing trees will then be used to teach green wood working skills.

A team of 170 pupils and 25 teachers from Bede Academy in Blyth visited the retreat earlier this month to start work, clearing weeds from the ponds, cutting back some of the trees from the water’s edge and putting in posts for a fence to keep out sheep and other animals.

Andrew Pennington, the environmental consultant leading the scheme, said: “This grant offers us a unique opportunity to have people as young as 13 working alongside our established conservation volunteers – some as old as 80.

“When you get people collaborating on a project you can see conversations begin between them which break down the preconceptions of each about the other, and that’s a really good thing”.

He added: “Now that Bede Academy pupils have kick-started it, we’ll work with our own conservation volunteers and others to complete it within the year."