Last updated at 14:06, Tuesday, 02 June 2009

A FLOOKBURGH man who started work on a local holiday park as a summer job is now one of Britain’s top eco-warriors.

TOP JOB: Eco-warrior Daniel Coward is the environmental adviser for Britain’s biggest leisure company, Bourne Leisure

Daniel Coward has risen through the ranks to become environmental adviser for Britain’s biggest leisure company, Bourne Leisure.

He oversees green initiatives and projects on an estate that includes 35 Haven holiday parks, three Butlins resorts and 13 Warner Leisure Hotels.

In his five years in the job, Daniel, 29, has clocked up tens of thousands of miles visiting the caravan parks, Butlins resorts and many of the hotels as well as attending meetings in London as a member of a top business and biodiversity group advising the government on environmental policies.

And in that time he is proud to say awareness of green issues has shot up the company agenda as the focus has shifted to developing strategies for sustainable tourism.

Bourne’s record is highly impressive, with 33 of the 35 holiday parks holding David Bellamy Gold Conservation Awards.

Mr Coward said: “This year so far we are on track to cut our electricity bill by about 10 per cent which is fantastic.”

The former pupil of Flookburgh Primary School, Cartmel Priory Secondary School and Barrow Sixth Form College studied environmental science at Leeds Metropolitan University. Fed up with waiting for companies to respond to his job applications on graduating, he decided the best answer was to get on his bike.

“I cycled round many of the local businesses in Flookburgh handing in my CV, and went to Lakeland Leisure Park,” he said.

“They gave me an interview and I started the next day in holiday sales, with one day off every week to devote to being Green Team leader.”

Among projects undertaken at the 200-acre holiday park were creating a wildlife area, installing bird and bat boxes and introducing an extensive programme of recycling.

Today the former wartime army training base is home to owls, a colony of rooks and many other kinds of wildlife.

As for future projects, Daniel is looking at ways to make more use of recycled materials in building the caravan holiday homes and investigating the possible impact of climate change on our coastline and countryside.

But he will also be returning to Lakeland Leisure Park on May 28 for the opening of a new £2.3m swimming pool at the award-winning park by former Olympic gold medallist swimmer Adrian Moorhouse.

First published at 11:36, Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk