Land managers and farmers in England can apply for funding for wildlife and river projects.
The Landscape Recovery Scheme provides funding for long-term, large-scale projects in England. The first round is now open to applications, and it aims to support projects that help around the following two themes:
- Recover threatened native species, restore priority habitats, improve habitat quality, and increase species abundance.
- Restore streams and rivers, improve water quality and biodiversity, and adapt to climate change.
These projects should also provide additional benefits, like contributing to net zero. For example, applicants could apply if they are planning a project to:
- Build, expand or link nature reserves.
- Create and improve woodland.
- Develop a mosaic of habitats.
- Restore water bodies, rivers and floodplains to a more natural state.
- Improve bogs, fens or saltmarshes.
Up to 15 projects will be taken forward within the total project development budget available of £7.5 million. The aim is to split the funding evenly across the two themes.
Evidence from similar existing projects implies that the implementation costs for most projects in the first round will be in the range of £200 to £900 per hectare, per year. This range is purely indicative, and land managers who expect their project’s implementation costs to be above this range should not be discouraged from applying.
All land managers and landowners are eligible to apply. This includes farmers and farm tenants, foresters, collaborative groups and non-farming businesses. Projects must be on land in England across a broadly connected area of at least 500 hectares up to a maximum of 5,000 hectares.
Applications for the first round are open until 24 May 2022 (23:59 BST).
How To Apply
Applications for the first round (for 15 Landscape Recovery projects) open between 1 February and 24 May 2022.
At this stage Defra will be releasing an invitation to apply and publishing full guidance on the scheme. This will cover detailed information on how bids will be assessed and how the scheme will work for the selected projects.
Defra is planning to open applications for Landscape Recovery pilot projects in at least two rounds over the next two years.
For more information, visit the GOV website.
Addresses and contacts
For further information on how to obtain this grant locally, please contact the following:
- Chris Banks
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London
SW1P 3JR
Email: [email protected]