Defra grants available to help improve protected landscapes

Farmers and land managers in national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) are being invited to apply for funding for one-off projects to create and improve protected landscapes across England.

The Farming in Protected Landscapes programme has been developed by Defra with the support of AONB and national parks staff from across England.

The three-year scheme is a part of Defra’s Agricultural Transition Plan and its programme to revamp agricultural policy outside the EU. It will run from July 2021 to March 2024.

See also: Defra to offer farmers tree health grants in pilot scheme

It is open to farmers and land managers, including from the private, public and charity sectors, within a national park or AONB in England, or in the Norfolk Broads.

The programme will fund projects that:

• Support nature recovery
• Mitigate the impacts of climate change
• Provide opportunities for people to discover, enjoy and understand the landscape and its cultural heritage
• Support nature-friendly, sustainable farm businesses.

In May 2018, Defra commissioned writer and journalist Julian Glover and an independent panel to consider ways to improve the management of national parks and AONBs.

Their report, the Landscapes Review, published in September 2019, made recommendations including that more should be done to support nature’s recovery in these landscapes.

In a written statement to parliament on 24 June, Defra secretary George Eustice said the government agreed with the findings of the report that more funding should be directed towards nature’s recovery in protected landscapes.

Mr Eustice added: “The programme will provide additional investment to allow farmers and other land managers to work in partnership with our national park authorities and AONB teams to improve public access, and deliver bigger and better outcomes for the environment, for people and for places.”

Union reaction

The NFU said the programme “needs to be simple and flexible and work with individual farm businesses in mind”.

NFU environment forum chair Richard Bramley said: “As we set out in the NFU’s Landscapes and Access report, whether it is incentives to improve public access, manage bigger hedgerows, plant more trees, or conserve carbon through the soil, we do need to see government policies that work together to support the delivery of agriculture’s net-zero ambition and to ensure we have farmed landscapes that can both feed the nation and thrive with wildlife.”

The programme is also open to farmers and land managers on land outside protected landscapes.

Farmers and land managers are advised to contact their local protected landscape body for advice about whether their land or project is eligible for funding.

Other organisations and individuals can apply, if they collaborate with a farmer or land manager, or in support of a farmer or group of farmers. Common land is also eligible for funding.

How to apply

The applications window for the first year of the programme will open from 1 July to 31 January 2022. Multi-year awards are possible for longer projects.

Funding for year one of the programme is £20m. However, funding for years two and three will be confirmed at future spending reviews.

Defra says applications for more than £5,000 will be judged by a local assessment panel.

Meanwhile, two of England’s most iconic landscapes – the Yorkshire Wolds and the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge – are being considered to become new AONBs, alongside extensions to the Surrey Hills and Chilterns AONBs.

Find out more at gov.uk.