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This blog post was published under the 2015-2024 Conservative Administration

https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2023/11/29/round-two-projects/

Landscape Recovery: sharing the successful second round projects

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Payments to restore landscapes and ecosystems
Two men and a dog stand in the Axe landscape
Photo from the Axe Landscape Partnership, with permission from Randall Photos

I’m pleased to share the 34 successful projects in the second round of Landscape Recovery. 

This £25 million round will fund 12 more projects than the previous round, demonstrating our commitment to funding that delivers environmental benefits in harmony with food production. 

The focus of this round is net zero, protected sites, and wildlife-rich habitats. 

Together, the projects involve over 700 farmers and landowners working with their communities to support over 200,000 hectares across England.  

They will:

  • restore more than 35,000 hectares of peatland
  • sustainably manage more than 20,000 hectares of woodland
  • create over 7,000 hectares of woodland, including some temperate rainforest
  • benefit more than 160 protected sites, which include Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).   

Successful projects 

The second round Landscape Recovery projects are: 

  • Arlington Estate nature recovery and connection to Exmoor   
  • Brit Catchment Recovery Project   
  • Brock and Calder Landscape Recovery Project   
  • Calder and Colne Landscape Links (CCaLL)   
  • Central Dartmoor Landscape Recovery  
  • Denton Park Estate   
  • Greater Sedgemoor Landscape Recovery Project (GSLRP)   
  • Habitat enhancement & connectivity in Gainsborough & Constable Country   
  • Hadrian’s Wall Wetland - Landscape Recovery   
  • Heart of the Dales   
  • Heaths to Sea: Landscape recovery of the lower Otter Valley   
  • High Peak Nature Recovery   
  • Landscape Recovery in the Lower Chew    
  • Lincoln and Witham Valley Farming and Nature Network (LWFNN)   
  • Linking Levisham   
  • Luppitt Landscape Partnership      
  • Moccas Park Landscape Recovery (River Wye) 
  • Morridge Hill Country – Landscape Enhancement in the Staffordshire Moorlands
  • North-West Norfolk Coast Project 
  • Ock and Thame Farmers: Freshwaters and Floodplains Restoration Project 
  • Ouse Washes Landscape Recovery – Farming for Food, Nature and Climate 
  • Penrith2Kendal Arc Landscape Recovery Project 
  • Penwith Landscape Recovery 
  • Resilient Glenderamackin 
  • Reviving Exmoor’s Heartland 
  • Small is Beautiful – Landscape Recovery on the Isles of Scilly 
  • The Walkham Valley Landscape Recovery Project 
  • Upper Irthing PRISM (Peatland, Rivers, Invasives, rare Species & Meadows) Project 
  • Ure Dales 
  • West Norfolk Nature Network (WNNN) 
  • West Pennines More Nature Partnership (WPMNP) 
  • ‘Win’ning the Allen 
  • Wyescapes; Food, Nature, Water 
  • Wylye Chalk Stream Project 

As was the case for the first round of the scheme, projects were selected through a competitive application process. 

Applicants were assessed against criteria which considered their feasibility, costs, environmental and social benefits and impact on food production, by a panel of subject matter experts.  

The successful initiatives demonstrated pioneering ideas that will reverse the decline in nature and support the sustainable production of food. 

Project spotlight 

The Penwith Landscape Recovery project will rejuvenate the moors and downs of Penwith, Cornwall. The project will explore options for cattle grazing on the heathlands, while also ensuring that clean water flows through the fens and farmland. 

On the other side of the country, the West Norfolk Nature Network will see a group of farmers transform the ecological landscape in Norfolk by creating swathes of contiguous multi-layered successional scrub, integrated with a mosaic of land and water-based features, serving as conduits for wildlife movement and diversity enhancement. 

The Hadrian's Wall Wetland Landscape Recovery project in the Northumberland National Park will improve water quality, increase biodiversity, recreate ecologically rich habitats and enhance protected sites across the iconic Hadrian’s Wall area. This project will encourage collaboration between farmers, land managers, neighbours and stakeholders to create new habitats to sequester carbon, which will help prevent urban flooding downstream. Using the landscape more efficiently will support the UK in its ambition to reach net zero.  

Next steps

We will now start to enrol each project. This will be led by colleagues in the Environment Agency and Natural England.    

Projects will then move into the Project Development Phase (PDP), in which they will have up to 2 years to complete project development activities. 

These activities will include developing detailed land management plans, quantifying environmental and social outcomes and further assessing the impact on food production.   

Subject to reaching agreement on suitable funding, projects will then move into implementation.   

We will open a third round of Landscape Recovery in 2024.

Subscribe to the Farming blog for updates and for more project spotlight posts.  

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10 comments

  1. Comment by Richard Chapman posted on

    How does this apply to me. Is there anything here that will help add to the loss of my BPS payments

    Reply
  2. Comment by Chris posted on

    Are shapefiles available for where all the LR projects for round one and round 2 are? This would really help arms length bodies, NGO's, advisors and the sector to be aware of exactly where projects are happening and how they can help.

    Reply
    • Replies to Chris>

      Comment by The Team posted on

      Hi Chris,

      Good question - we do have maps of the project locations and we've passed your comment on to the LR team who can consider whether/how these can be shared.

      Best wishes,
      The Team

      Reply
  3. Comment by Jenny Shepherd posted on

    What will Calder and Colne Landscape Links project do?

    Reply
    • Replies to Jenny Shepherd>

      Comment by The Team posted on

      Hi Jenny,

      The Calder and Colne Landscape Links (CALL) project aims to create a rich, climate resilient mosaic of functionally connected habitats that link the valley towns with the moorland tops.

      The project will support keynote species, such as golden plover and water vole alongside local sustainable food production.

      Every month we publish a spotlight post (featuring one of the Landscape Recovery Projects), by subscribing to the blog, you'll be notified when a post is published on our blog.

      https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/subscribe/

      Best wishes,
      The Team

      Reply
  4. Comment by Michael posted on

    It takes a lot of time to organise projects implemented over such a scale, including for the drafting of proposals and coordination of participants, to ensure high quality submissions. Please could you offer a better indication of the timing of the launch of the 2024 LR call for proposals?

    Reply
    • Replies to Michael>

      Comment by The Team posted on

      Hi Michael,

      Thanks for getting in touch. As soon as we have a date, we'll share it on the blog.

      Best wishes,
      The Team

      Reply
  5. Comment by Dan B posted on

    It is not clear how funds have been allocated. How much in total and how much has been awarded to each project? It’s tax payers money so the spending should be clear. Thank you.

    Reply

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