Project Neptune (National Trust)

Project Neptune, also known as Enterprise Neptune, is a long-term project of the National Trust to acquire or put under covenant a substantial part of the Welsh, English and Northern Irish coastline. In 1999 it was relaunched as the Neptune Coastline Campaign.^[1] It is named for the Roman god of the sea.

Greenala Point, Pembrokeshire; the cliffs and coastal slopes have been purchased by the National Trust as part of 'Project Neptune'

The Project began in May 1965 with the acquisition of Whiteford Burrows in the Gower Peninsula.^[2][3] The aim was to protect the coastline from being developed or industrialised.^[3]

By 1973 the project had reached its original £2 million fundraising target and looked after 338 miles (544 km) of coastline.^[2] By 1986 the National Trust had raised £8.75 million through Project Neptune.^[2] The Project looked after 710 miles (1,140 km) of British coastline by 2009.^[1] By its 50th anniversary in May 2015 the Trust had acquired 574 miles (924 km) of coastline through the project, bringing its total holding to 775 miles (1,247 km).^[4] This increased to 780 miles (1,260 km), some 10% of the total UK coastline, later that year and covers an area of 48,800 hectares (121,000 acres).^[5][6]

The Project owns some of the UK's most iconic coast including land near the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, 5.5 miles (8.9 km) of the White Cliffs of Dover and The Needles.^[2][4] The project includes four World Heritage Sites and nine lighthouses.^[3] The Project has not been completely successful in achieving its ambitions, having had its £1 million bid for Land's End turned down in 1981.^[2]

The Project is currently focussed on the maintenance of the coastline that it already owns, particularly with regard to coastal management.^[1]

References

1. Neptune Coastline Campaign information at the National Trust Archived 2009-06-27 at the Wayback Machine
2. National Trust: Neptune Coastline Campaign, the story so far Archived 2010-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
3. "Coast: Looking after our everchanging shores" (PDF). National Trust. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
4. "Fifty years of Neptune Coastline campaign". National Trust. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
5. "Telling Neptune's story 50 years on". National Trust. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
6. "Coast appeal". National Trust. Retrieved 10 August 2020.