An established county-wide countryside management service, supported by volunteers and local communities.
Working together to restore and maintain chalk grassland, woodland and heathland habitats for biodiversity, wildlife, access and enjoyment by all.
Since June 2014 the three partnerships, Downlands, Lower Mole and Surrey Heathland, provide a combined service under the Surrey Countryside Partnerships (SCP) team umbrella, whilst still retaining their individual partnership branding and working areas.
Downlands Partnership
Works primarily on chalk grassland but also ponds, woodlands and improving public access in northeast Surrey from Tadworth to Tatsfield including Caterham and Chipstead and in neighbouring areas of Croydon. Also in neighbouring areas of Sutton and parts of north Surrey and Kingston with its conservation grazing service. The Downlands Partnership also hosts the Sanderstead to Whyteleafe Countryside Area Partnership.
Find out more about the Downlands Partnership
Lower Mole Partnership
Works primarily in woodlands but also on grasslands, commons and improving public access in north Surrey, spanning Cobham, Epsom, Esher, Leatherhead and Dorking, and into Kingston.
Find out more about the Lower Mole Partnership
Surrey Heathland Partnership
Works on lowland heathland in west Surrey in Guildford and Woking, centred around the Pirbright area. Also provides contract management work, including overseeing conservation grazing programmes and specialist advice on heathland restoration.
Find out more about the Surrey Heathland Partnership
Service information and annual report 2023-24
Please contact us to receive a copy of our SCP Our Services Guide, which details the wide range of countryside management services we can offer to our current and potential new partner organisations.
Our current SCP Annual Report covers 2023-24 and copies of this report and our annual reports for previous years from 2015-16 onwards are also available by emailing us: countrysidepartnershipsteam@surreycc.gov.uk.
We are very pleased to report that the countryside management partnership work of our whole team was supported by an impressive, combined total of 27,650 volunteer hours during 2023-24.
This represents another successful year of local community involvement by our regular conservation volunteers and all the corporate, school and community groups we have been pleased to welcome during the year.
The Downlands Partnership provides a busy conservation grazing service on around 26 sites. The grazing service is essentially supported by around 200 voluntary livestock checkers that help to look after our sheep, goats and cattle, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. These volunteers, alongside our dedicated farm volunteer crew, contribute a significant number of volunteer hours per year, notably 9,364 hours for 2023-24. All the livestock contributed an impressive 1,971,000 hours of grazing during the year too!
The SCP team also provides engaging environmental education sessions for young people, particularly at Surrey County Council owned Old Lodge Farm near Banstead, which is the base for our Downlands Partnership Grazing service and at the Sanderstead to Whyteleafe Countryside Area too. These young volunteers make a great contribution in looking after and learning about their local countryside.
During 2023-24, a total of 482 task days/events were provided by our team, with positive feedback from all of our service users. We worked on over 100 different sites for public and private landowners, including National Nature Reserves, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Local Nature Reserves and Local Wildlife sites.
Our thanks to all of the volunteers that join in with our work, for their vital support in helping our service to continue to maintain and restore all of the beautiful habitats in our partnerships' area.
Outline map of our current partnerships' working area across Surrey and South London:
Conservation volunteering with us is great for health, happiness and habitat
Volunteers play a vital role in our service delivery and we extend a very warm welcome to anyone wanting to become involved with any of our three partnerships.
Please visit the Downlands Partnership - Volunteering Opportunities and Lower Mole Partnership - Volunteering Opportunities pages for full information on how you can join in and to view our latest selection of seasonal, weekly volunteer task sessions on offer.
We are very pleased to now be offering a new regular weekly volunteer task programme with our Surrey Heathland Partnership as well from October 2023. We are very keen to welcome new volunteers in the Guildford and Woking areas, to grow our great new conservation crew in this partnership area. Please visit our Surrey Heathland Partnership - Volunteering Opportunities page for full details.
Our friendly countryside volunteering crews help our teams with all types of practical countryside management work, woodwork, species monitoring and livestock checking, come rain or shine, and all help is greatly appreciated.
We are developing great corporate partnerships with many local and county-wide based companies, including Fidelity International, Toyota, Croudace Homes, Ramsac, Nestlé Purina PetCare and AtkinsRéalis. We offer excellent employee conservation volunteering opportunities for teams and individuals, helping companies to deliver their employer supported volunteering schemes and to meet their corporate social responsibility targets. We can accommodate larger corporate, community and school groups by arrangement.
Please email us at countrysidepartnershipsteam@surreycc.gov.uk to find out about the great opportunities we can offer for team or individual employee volunteering sessions, team building, sponsorship and environmental education days.
Please refer to our service specific Surrey Countryside Partnerships Volunteer Handbook 2024 (PDF) for our comprehensive guide to countryside volunteering with our great conservation crews.
Check out our Surrey Countryside Partnerships Facebook page for an insight into what we do, where, why and with whom.
Voluntary internships and training placement opportunities
We offer voluntary internships and work training placements throughout the year (short and long term), so please do get in touch if you wish to join us for a specific period or would like to gain some regular or one-off voluntary experience if you are interested in/studying for a career in countryside management or livestock management. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any advice to find out what opportunities we currently have available and how you could get involved.
Charitable trusts directly supporting our work
We work closely in partnership with both the Downlands Trust and Lower Mole Countryside Trust.
These are both independent, registered small charities run by small boards of dedicated voluntary trustees that directly support two of our partnerships. They both provide essential financial and profile-raising support for our local countryside management work. The Downlands and Lower Mole Partnership staff work closely with both trusts on fundraising initiatives and membership recruitment. We work together to increase public awareness, encourage further voluntary and community involvement and are building county-wide corporate support for our countryside management work.
See our privacy notice for details of how we handle your data.
Contact us
- SCP email: countrysidepartnershipsteam@surreycc.gov.uk
- SCP contacts: Helen Cocker, Countryside Partnerships Operations Manager and Debbie Marie Hescott, Partnership Development Officer (part time)
Files available to download
-
Surrey Countryside Partnerships Volunteer Handbook 2024 (PDF)
A comprehensive guide to getting involved with practical conservation volunteering with the Surrey Countryside Partnerships.