Northumberland bird project to benefit from Bamburgh Castle gift shop's plastic bag charge

The national scheme to cut back on plastic carrier bags will provide a boost for barn owls in Northumberland.

Bamburgh Castle’s gift shop is exempt from the directive to charge 5p for the bags because it falls below the employee number trigger.

But the castle has opted to charge – with the money raised being donated to the Northumberland Coast Barn Owl Project.

This new initiative aims to boost barn owl numbers on the Northumberland coastline.

Francis Watson Armstrong, owner of Bamburgh Castle, said: “Far from being a feather-brained scheme, we were very keen at Bamburgh to support a project that protects and conserves the majestic barn owl – my favourite national bird species.

“Although the Government’s scheme of charging for plastic bags does not apply to our gift shop, we feel strongly that the principle of reducing the number of plastic bags in circulation is an excellent and very valid one.

“We decided that the barn owl project could benefit from Bamburgh’s bag tax which will see all the money raised after tax being donated to the scheme.

The barn owl project is being run by the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership and the Alnwick Wildlife Group.

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