What is the Land + Nature Skills
Service?

The Land + Nature Skills Service (LANSS) connects people with learning and training opportunities in the land and nature based sectors across Cumbria, with a focus on facilitating the development of skills provision to meet learner and employer needs in Cumbria.

Our aims are:

• To connect people with learning and training opportunities relevant to land and nature based work in Cumbria.
• To co-ordinate across the sector to enable the most effective array of learning and training opportunities to be offered. 
• To promote land and nature based work in Cumbria, with realism and inclusivity.

The key skills areas we support are:

• Agriculture + Horticulture / Machinery + Technology
• Water, Rivers + Catchments
• Nature Conservation
• Forestry + Woodlands
• Estates, Buildings + Property
• Visitor + Rural Economy
• Environmental Monitoring
• Protected Area Management / Heritage Skills
• Business + Financial
• People, Communication + Education

We cater for:

LEARNERS and their advisors:

• Prospective new entrants to the sector including adults looking for a career change, and young people 16+ considering their career and training options.
• People of any age already employed, self-employed or volunteering in the land and nature sector, in or near Cumbria, looking to enhance their skills or try something new.
• Advisers to potential learners, such as careers advisers, parents/guardians of young people and adult learning support workers.

PROVIDERS of learning and training opportunities for the land and nature sector:

• Further Education and Higher Education institutions.
• Training companies and sole-traders offering training.
• Organisations in the land and nature sector offering learning/training, such as farmer groups, conservation charities and NGOs.
• Providers of careers events, webinars, workshops, talks and tours, accredited and non-accredited courses, apprenticeships, mentoring, student placements and volunteering opportunities with a focus on skills development towards paid work.

EMPLOYERS in the land and nature sector in and near Cumbria:

• Co-ordinating training provision for employees of organisations including microbusinesses, SMEs and large organisations in the land and nature sector.
• Promoting training vacancies e.g. apprenticeships and work placement opportunities.
• Assisting employers to fill skills gaps via a network of providers and learners.

The LANSS has been set up through a partnership between the Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, University of Cumbria, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, and Cumbria Farmer Network.

The LANSS is grant funded, predominantly by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Defra’s Farming in Protected Landscape Programme (FiPL). The FiPL funding is via the North Pennines and Arnside & Silverdale National Landscapes and the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District National Park Authorities. Funding contributions have also been received from, Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, Westmorland & Furness Council, Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, University of Cumbria, and The Ernest Cook Trust.

Our website is an information hub and one-stop shop for finding learning and training opportunities, as well as finding upcoming events and accessing resources and information.

To stay up to date with all the latest news and find out about upcoming events and opportunities, you can sign up to our regular newsletters and follow us on social media. 

Course providers and employers can sign up for an account to advertise their training courses or related career development vacancies.

Should you have any specific queries about the Land + Nature Skills Service, you can also contact us directly via email and telephone. Find our contact details here.