The first round of the new Landscape Recovery scheme has opened for applications.
The Landscape Recovery scheme will support ‘more radical and ambitious’ land-use change and habitat restoration, such as establishing new nature reserves, restoring floodplains to help reduce the risks from flooding, or creating woodland and wetlands.
Environment Secretary, George Eustice, commented on the announcement: “The focus of our Landscape Recovery scheme will be to restore threatened species and priority habitats – helping to protect our natural environment for generations to come and boost biodiversity.
“While the types of projects we envisage won’t be right for every farm business or farm holding, they will be right for some which is why this scheme will support a choice that some landowners may want to take, and put in place the right incentives to allow them to do so.”
The first round of Landscape Recovery is open to any individuals or groups who want to come together to deliver large (500 – 5000 ha) scale projects.
The projects will focus on:
- recovering and restoring England’s threatened native species. Projects under this theme will be administered by Natural England
- restoring England’s streams and rivers: improving water quality, biodiversity and adapting to climate change. Projects under this theme will be administered by the Environment Agency
Applications for this round of funding are now open, closing on 24 May 2022.
The application process will be competitive and Defra will assess applications against selection criteria focused on the projects’ potential impact, feasibility and costs and will confirm the chosen round one pilot projects in the summer.
Up to 15 projects will be taken forward within the total project development budget of £7.5m available.
The Landscape Recovery Scheme is one of the new environmental land management schemes the government unveiled in January.
Emma Howard Boyd CBE, Chair of the Environment Agency, added: “The Landscape Recovery scheme will fund projects that will see waterbodies, rivers and floodplains restored to a more natural state helping to deliver the Government’s ambition to reverse the decline in nature by 2030.
“Projects will also improve water quality and help reduce the risks from flooding helping us adapt to the changing climate.”
More information about the Landscape Recovery scheme and how to apply is available on the UK Government website.
