The Heritage Lottery Fund has an extra £45m to play with next year, the funder has revealed today.

The boost, which will bring the March 2011/12 funding year total to £250m, comes as a result of the re-adjustment of lottery funding for heritage and also on the back of continued strong sales of the National Lottery.

HLF today announced the destination for £17m of the £45m, with four programmes assured of additional funding. The Landscape Partnerships programme, which encourages local partnerships to protect distinctive landscapes, has received the biggest boost with an extra £7m for next financial year. The small grants conservation programme ‘Your Heritage’ has also received a significant increase on its 2010/11 budget, getting an extra £5m next year.

Dame Jenny Abramsky, chair of the HLF, said: “We hope this will be heartening news.  £250m will make a real difference across the UK. We think it’s particularly important to be increasing our investment in smaller grants having long seen the heritage benefits of people getting involved at a local level."

Minister for heritage John Penrose reiterated his party’s stance on lottery funding. “The founding vision of the National Lottery was that it should primarily benefit the arts, sport, heritage and the voluntary sector, but this got lost along the way. I’m pleased the recent share change has put this right and that organisations who will need support from the Heritage Lottery Fund will quickly feel the benefit,” he said.

“This increase in funding is fantastic news for all those organisations and charities who will secure grants, ensuring our wonderful heritage is protected for years to come.”

Abramsky said that more decisions regarding programme allocations will be revealed next spring, but that the funder had wanted to outline some changes early so as to allow time for applicants to prepare.