£1.7 million for farming groups to boost environment

A fund for groups of farmers and organisations to bid for cash for large-scale environmental projects in their area opens in September.

The fund, which is the third round of the Countryside Stewardship Facilitate Fund, encourages landowners to think beyond their own fields, meadows and woodlands, and consider how environmental benefits can be achieved over a wider landscape by working on projects together.

61 groups and 1,350 land managers have been supported to improve more than 273,000 hectares of land since the scheme began. Improvements include enhancing wildlife habitats, planting trees and restoring rivers to their natural meanders.

To apply to the fund, which is open for applications from 1 September to 14 November 2017, groups must submit new plans for working together and sharing knowledge to improve their land and benefit their communities.

Across England a total of £7.2 million has been committed through the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund. Groups of land managers are improving their local environment at a landscape-scale. This develops the principles of partnership working to deliver ambitious, evidence-based actions that will deliver for the environment, business and local communities.

George Eustice, Farming Minister, said: “The benefits of action to develop habitats and protect the environment can be magnified if applied on a landscape scale with groups of farmers working together. This facilitation fund will support partnership working to maximise the benefits of our Countryside Stewardship schemes to our farmed environment.

“Leaving the EU creates a great opportunity to design a new agriculture policy that delivers environmental outcomes more effectively and testing partnership working in this way will help provide us with experience to inform future policy.”

James Cross, chief executive of Natural England, said: “This scheme is about helping more farmers and land managers make the most of Countryside Stewardship and bring benefits for nature and people on a landscape scale. This is really exciting, a real win-win for farmers, land managers, rural communities and of course, our wildlife.

“We are proud to be using the fund to help support rural areas. By working with groups of land managers, facilitators can scale up what we can achieve and help deliver long-term outcomes for the environment.”