Landscape Recovery
What is Landscape Recovery?
*Please note these schemes are still being developed by DEFRA and therefore this information may change.
Landscape Recovery (LR) is one of 3 new environmental land management schemes being rolled out by DEFRA. It will complement the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship schemes.
This scheme is for landowners and managers who want to take a more radical and large-scale approach to producing environmental and climate goods on their land.
Landscape Recovery can currently be applied for through the LR pilot schemes.
Landscape Recovery has 2 phases:
The project development phase (2 years max)
During which DEFRA will work with the project to support the chosen projects to prepare for delivery and agree funding arrangements (private and public).
The project implementation phase (20 + years)
During which the delivery of the plan drawn up during the implementation phase will take place.
The three main distinguishing factors of Landscape Recovery are:
Landscape Scale
Projects must cover 500 to 5,000 hectares of broadly contiguous (connected) land.
Bespoke
Bespoke agreements which aim to be funded through a combination of public and private finance.
Long Term
Agreements are to be long term (20+ years).
More detailed information on landscape recovery can be found here on DEFRA’s website:
Pilots
Round 1 of the DEFRA landscape recovery pilots launched in February 2022 and the schemes accepted in to round 1 are currently in the development phase and moving towards the implementation phase.
Round 2 Applications opened on 18 May 2023 and will close at midday on 21 September 2023.
Landscape Recovery round two will focus on net zero, protected sites, and wildlife-rich habitat.
Who can apply?
Landscape Recovery will be available to all land owners/ managers, not just farmers.
If you have a large area of common land or the common and adjacent land is a contiguous landscape that you would like to manage at scale or have a specific cross boundary landscape scale project in mind, then landscape recovery might be a good option to look in to.
Public bodies will need to apply for landscape recovery in a joint application with a private land owner or organisation.
Landscape recovery schemes can often include multiple landowners and participants. You may want to take a look at our working with others section to help facilitate stakeholder engagement.
Long Term Agreements
Landscape recovery funds landscape scale projects through bespoke, long-term agreements that extend beyond 20+ years. In order to protect the conservation value of the land during the life of the scheme and beyond agreements are signed, these are known as conservation covenants.
We have provided more detailed information on conservation covenants in the link below:
Private Finance
DEFRA would like to enable farmers and land managers to combine revenue from both public and private sector funding to produce environmental and climate outcomes. To support this, they are designing Landscape Recovery to complement growing markets for ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration or improved water quality.
Securing private finance is not required to initially apply for a landscape recovery scheme, but will be required as part of the implementation phase, and a plan on how to obtain private finance as part of the scheme will need to be drawn up during the 2-year development phase.
If at the end of the development phase projects do not meet the requirements for further Landscape Recovery funding, DEFRA will work with them to see whether there are more appropriate alternative opportunities and support mechanisms available.
Private finance could include things such as:
Carbon Markets
Biodiversity Markets
Eco tourism
Private investment in the scheme
Car parking or recreational income
It is still unclear what types of private finance will be available to, or suitable for common land.
With much common land being designated as SSSI or owned by public bodies this could cause some difficulties acquiring private finance for the scheme due to statutory or stakeholder obligations.
FCL suggest seeking legal advice on what type of private finance will be available to your common.
In most cases setting up a Special Purpose vehicle or Community Interest Company will be required to enable the receipt of private finance. We have provided a basic guide on setting up an SPV or CIC in the link below:
Landscape Recovery on Commons
What’s the difference between setting up a LR scheme on common land compared to non common land?
Many of the mandatory requirements for applying for countryside stewardship scheme will also apply to a landscape recovery scheme on common land, these are outlined in the ‘Common land and shared grazing: supplement to the Countryside Stewardship manual’. These include, but are not limited to:
to establish a valid commons association that represents those involved in the scheme
to create an internal agreement between keys parties on how the common is to be managed under the scheme
to create a bank account on behalf of the association
More often than not, common land will have additional designations attached to it (e.g. SSSI status). You will need to check how these designations work with your plans for a landscape recovery scheme and whether you’re plans are compatible with the management requirements associated with that designation.
Here you can:
check if the land is subject to any statutory nature designations
check if the land is subject to any statutory heritage designations
Common land and shared grazing supplement
The supplement contains details of the steps that must be followed before making an application on common land and shared grazing:
Common land and shared grazing is only eligible for the Higher Tier of Countryside Stewardship. Commoners/graziers need to agree and name one person to sign the application. This person will then be responsible for maintaining the relevant agreement, if accepted, on behalf of all the commoners/graziers.
Internal Agreements
An Internal Agreement between the land owner/ manager and the commoners actively grazing the common is required as part of landscape recovery. More information on creating an internal agreement for your common can be found here:
https://foundationforcommonland.org.uk/toolkit/internal-agreements-and-heads-of-terms?rq=internal
Test and Trials
Test and Trials
More information on DEFRA test and trails can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-land-management-tests-and-trials
Foundation for Common Land have conducted a number of test and trials for DEFRA.
More information on our test and trials and our lowland commons landscape recovery test and trial can be found by clicking the link below: