UK’s largest farmer-led nature recovery project approved

Farmers across the Cotswolds have been given the green light to launch the UK’s biggest ever farmer-led nature recovery project, restoring more than 3,000ha of habitat while continuing to produce food.

The Evenlode Landscape Recovery project, led by the North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster (NECFC), brings together more than 50 farms across Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire.

Backed by a £100m blended public and private finance model, the scheme will fund landscape restoration over 20 years under Defra’s Landscape Recovery programme.

See also: Opinion: Landscape Recovery small print is a cause for concern

It is one of the first Landscape Recovery projects in England to move from planning into full delivery mode and has been built and organised by the farmers themselves.

Blended finance

Farmer Tim Coates, the NECFC managing director, said: “This is the largest Landscape Recovery project of its kind to reach implementation, setting a real precedent. It shows farmers can lead ambitious, investable, long-term projects.

“By blending public funding with private investment, we’re moving beyond short-term schemes to create a model for lasting land stewardship that can be replicated elsewhere.”

The initiative has been triggered by mounting environmental pressures, including flooding, soil erosion, declining water quality and biodiversity loss.

By working collectively at landscape scale, farmers aim to slow water flows, improve river health, restore soils and reconnect habitats.

Tim Field, NECFC general secretary and executive director of Evenlode Landscape Recovery, said: “This project has been built by farmers and with farmers, who know this land inside out.

“We’ve seen the pressures building year after year with flooding and tired soils and knew that significant change needed to happen.”

He added: “Going live now is a real moment of pride because it shows what’s possible when farmers work together for the long term, taking shared responsibility for their landscapes and passing it on in better shape than they inherited.”

Working in partnership

Defra farming minister Dame Angela Eagle said:

“The Evenlode Landscape Recovery Project is a great example of farmers and land managers coming together to successfully blend food production and nature restoration, backed by government funding and private investment working hand in hand.”

Environment Agency chairman Alan Lovell called it “an exciting milestone”, while Marian Spain, chief executive of Natural England, described it as “an exciting opportunity for both public and private investment in nature-based solutions”.

According to the latest government data, 56 Landscape Recovery projects have been selected across England – 22 in the first round and 34 in the second – and more than 50 additional projects are currently in development for future rounds.