Notes to graph:

1. Devon County Council financial year falls from April - March.
2. The figures shown on the graph represent core funding contributions only. Core funding components from EU LIFE Heart of Devon and ERDF 5b bids are shown although these included specific projects and items of work. Funding for the EU Visitor Payback Project (European Commission DGXXIII) is not shown.
3. The first Project Officer was not appointed until January 9 1989 and the expenditure between then and March 31 1989 fell within the 1988-89 financial year.
4. Although core funding to the Tarka Project was relatively low in 1989-1991, there were major financial contributions from Devon County Council and the Countryside Commission to the cost of refurbishing the former railway line between Barnstaple and Petrockstowe which fell within the Tarka Project's work programme (see Recreational Infrastructure: Tarka Trail ).
5. Contributions from private sponsorship in the years 1991-1993 relate to funding from South West Water and Intervet to support the Otter Conservation Officer post.
6. District Council funding: West Devon Borough Council ceased core funding the project during 1992 and 1994, but continued to co-fund individual projects as a working partner. Core funding resumed in 1994-5, but ceased again in 1997-8, reverting to the previous arrangement.
7. It is probably fair to say that it was not envisaged at the start that the Tarka Project would be funded beyond its original three-year term.

Terms and abbreviations:

EU LIFE Programme    -    European Union LIFE Programme
ERDF 5b Funding        -    European Rural Development Fund: Objective 5b
Project Income            -     Miscellaneous Income

Issues:

• Maintenance of political and financial support for long-term projects
  
• The tenet of short-term funding packages with an emphasis on innovation and demonstration, but little support for on-going work
  
• The need for project initiatives to be quickly self-supporting