Jack Ellerby’s contribution to the countryside stretches back decades. Before moving to Cumbria, he was instrumental in developing innovative rural housing policies in Exmoor and North Devon. He went on to work as a Policy Officer for Friends of the Lake District on and off for 20 years, leading campaigns that safeguarded 30-40% of the Lake District’s public forest estate from sale and helped secure the expansion of two national parks. During the national park boundary extension campaign, Jack contacted every town and parish council, speaking to many of them in person. He also led the successful fight against the sale of England’s public forest estate in 2011.
Jack created the Hedges and Edges project, which has planted and restored 5km of Cumbrian hedgerows with CPRE Hedgerow Heroes funding, and originated Dark Skies Cumbria, whose lighting guide is now used by every planning authority in the county. He also launched the annual Fell Care Days in 2011, mobilising thousands of volunteers for practical conservation work, and has championed traditional rural skills including dry stone walling and hedgelaying.
While Jack has now stepped back from his formal role, his contribution continues. He remains an active volunteer, regularly undertaking practical conservation work and sharing the skills and knowledge he has championed throughout his career.
Nomination details
Why this matters
Jack’s contribution is outstanding because of the sheer level of commitment he has given to the landscapes of Cumbria and the level of generosity with his time and knowledge. It is not only the quantity but the quality and impact of what he has delivered through the actions described above that is outstanding. Even more remarkable – despite his own personal health challenges, for years he has also regularly given up hours of his own time to deliver practical work or run events and continues to do so.
Lake District National Park Boundary Extension
Friends of the Lake District commissioned 5 years work to make the case for extensions to the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks. Natural England accepted this work and began the process of formally consulting on these proposals. Jack worked on this project, which resulted in significant expansions to two National Parks on 1 August 2016. Jack visited every parish council in the extension areas to persuade them to support the extensions. He held events for the public to discuss the implications, explained how the proposals could be positive and what could be achieved. He lobbied government and the local authorities in a similar fashion. By the time the public inquiry came, all Jack’s work meant that there was large scale support for the proposals and hardly any objections and the proposals were approved, coming into place on 1 August 2016. Magazine article about the Boundary Extensions campaign from 2011: https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/should-the-lake-district-be-bigger/
Stop the Forest Sell Off Campaign
Jack led this campaign in 2011. When the Government announced they were going to change legislation so they could sell off the publicly owned woodland, Jack launched our Stop the Sell Off Campaign. We held rallies, worked with other organisations nationally and locally, urged people to contact their MPs, lobbied Government and so on and we won the campaign! The public forest estate was not sold off as a result of the passion and love people have for our woodlands and Jack working to capitalise on that. BBC article from 2011: ‘Whinlatter Forest protest turns into celebration’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-12514919
Science mag archive blog article about the Forest Sell Off campaign, which mentions that Jack was appearing on BBC’s Countryfile programme talking about the campaign: https://isciencemag.co.uk/archive/blog/for-sale-englands-woodlands/
Dark Skies Project
Jack has raised the profile of Friends through leading the Cumbria Dark Skies project. As part of this he organised and delivered multiple talks and events in Cumbria, including at the Dark Skies Festival, to raise awareness of the importance of dark skies for biodiversity, health and well-being. He has also given presentations to lighting industry professionals and others. His talks are engaging, are always met with positive responses from attendees and generate positive change on the ground.
One example of such change is when Jack was involved in a lighting project at Cliff Terrace in Kendal. He brought together and engaged with Westmorland Council, Kendal Town Council and local residents to deliver improved street lighting using restored cast iron columns, heritage lantern tops and were of a design that removed light spill into neighbouring properties. The feedback from residents has been overwhelmingly positive.
Jack also led the preparation of the Cumbria Good Lighting Technical Advice Note, produced by Dark Source, which is used by all Cumbrian local authorities to guide lighting development in their area. The document is now used by Cumbrian planning authorities when determining planning applications. See the Guide on Cumberland Council’s website here: https://www.cumberland.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-03/allerdale_local_plan_good_lighting_technical_advice_note.pdf
Impact
Jack was instrumental in helping Friends achieve the following impacts:
- Public forest estate safeguarded and not sold off, amounting to 30 – 40% of the Lake District’s woodland.
- Expansion of Lake District National Park by 3% and expansion of Yorkshire Dales National Park by 24%
- Technical Advice Note published for Cumbria providing guidance for planners on best practice in lighting and how to protect dark skies and reduce artificial light pollution
- Annual switch off events in Ambleside and Keswick to raise awareness of the impact of artificial light pollution on the health and wellbeing of nocturnal wildlife and people
- Since 2011, Jack originated the idea of, and has coordinated delivery of, our annual large scale volunteer Fell Care Days supported by thousands of volunteers, and working with many partner conservation organisations in Cumbria to carry out conservation work in one day – including upland path maintenance, tree planting, dry stone walling, plug planting, path creation, invasive non-native species clearance, and litter picking.
- Over 5,000M hedges planted and restored during winter 2025-26 with the help of CPRE ‘Hedgerow Heroes’ funding.
Inclusion and accessibility
Jack introduced volunteer workparties on Friend’s own land 20 years ago. This was a way to encourage people to work outdoors with us and engage with our work. He gives a lot of his time voluntarily to train people in the art of dry-stone walling and hedge laying. He is very down-to-earth and treats everyone equally, no matter their age or background, and is passionate about helping people find a connection, with each other, the landscape and nature.
