A footpath serving the Three Peaks has won cash for vital repairs from an international fund – thanks to a successful bid by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT).

Members of the public and readers of Trail magazine and Country Walking magazine were asked to select ten winners from 66 international nominations to share a pot of cash being offered by the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA).

And one of the ten was a bid to help the Three Peaks’ fragile ecosystem by restoring a section of the footpath network near Penyghent.

Now the EOCA has announced that the footpath repairs will receive €30,000 (£26,154).

The work is part of the Three Peaks Project – launched by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) in 2009 – and was put forward for the grant by local charity, the YDMT.

The Three Peaks Challenge is an incredibly popular 24-mile walk over Penyghent, Whernside and Ingleborough and the project aims to encourage charities, organisations and individuals to help in the maintenance and conservation of the network of paths that has to cope with 250,000 visitors each year.

Much of the route has a sustainable walking surface to cater for the high numbers of visitors, but the route over Horton Moor and Black Dubb Moss – between Penyghent and Ribblehead – has become badly eroded and the topsoil has been washed away, causing significant damage to internationally-important peat habitat.

An alternative route over Whitber Hill passes over drier ground and uses mainly existing paths. With some work, it could be developed as an official route.

The winning bid was submitted by YDMT projects development officer Don Gamble, who said: “We knew we had a truly deserving project, but we have been blown away by the level of support our bid received in the public vote – thank you.

The YNDPA’s Ribblesdale area ranger Steve Hastie, who is also the Three Peaks project manager, said: “This really is excellent news. It means we can put the missing link in to the circuit so that walkers will be able to avoid the infamous Black Dubb Moss and we can put in place appropriate revegetation work to help the damaged land recover.

“Once it’s all finished, we will, for the first time, have a sustainable circuit.”

Tanya Bascombe, general manager of European Outdoor Conservation Association, said: “We were very impressed by the Three Peaks bid. The project clearly also resonated with the readers of Trail magazine and the general public as people voted in their thousands and YDMT’s bid led the poll from the outset.”