Jim will be part of a 15-strong Board which runs both NHMF and HLF. Its role is to steer the policy and direction of the two Funds and take decisions on grant applications. The NHMF, the nation’s grant-in-aid fund of last resort for heritage, has a current annual budget of £4m – £5m. To date, HLF has awarded £5.9bn to 36,000 heritage projects across the UK. Its grant budget for 2013-14 is £375m.

Dame Jenny Abramsky said: “We’re delighted to be welcoming Jim onto the Board in October. We continue to face tough times in the heritage sector and over the next few years we are anticipating continued high levels of demand for our funds, which means stiff competition and difficult decisions. Jim will bring a wealth of expertise on the natural heritage plus fresh insight, and will work alongside our existing Trustees to help meet these challenges.”

Biographical notes:

Jim has worked in the countryside for 30 years. He started as a biologist studying agricultural environments including arable and grassland. For nine years he led the RSPB’s national rural policy work, including a period when he represented over 200 conservation bodies on the EU Common Agricultural Policy advisory committee. He worked for English Nature, leading landscape-scale restoration, and then for Defra where he was part of the team who established the new Department in 2001.

In 2003 Jim was appointed to his current post of Chief Executive of the Peak District National Park Authority where he has championed work on landscapes, large-scale habitat management partnerships, rivers, cycling, the rural economy and communities. He has been lead officer for the 15 UK National Parks for four years.

Jim is a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas and a School Governor.

Notes to editors

The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) is the ‘fund of last resort’ and receives annual grant-in-aid from the Government. It was set up in 1980, to save the most outstanding parts of our national heritage, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. NHMF is due to receive £20m grant-in-aid from the Government between 2011 and 2015 allowing for an annual budget of £4m - £5m.

Further information

Please contact Katie Owen, NHMF / HLF press office, on 020 7591 6036 or 07973 613 820.