Landscape Recovery is DEFRA’s flagship ELM scheme, aimed at land managers ready to think big. It funds large‑scale, long‑term projects that can reshape whole catchments, restore peatlands, link woodlands and deliver lasting biodiversity gains. This is about bold, landscape‑wide change—not small, incremental tweaks.
Key stats & dates at a glance
- Rounds funded to date: Round 1 (Sept 2022) – 22 projects awarded ~£12m in Project Development grants over 2 years; Round 2 (Nov 2023) – 34 projects backed by £25m, involving 700+ land managers across 200,000+ ha. (Gov.uk press release, Sept 2022, Defra blog, Nov 2023, Defra blog, Dec 2022)
- Scale: Typical 500–5,000 ha; larger if multiple owners partner. (Defra blog, May 2023)
- Agreement length: Implementation agreements are designed for ~20 years. (Defra blog, Feb 2024)
- BNG context: Biodiversity Net Gain is mandatory in England from 12 Feb 2024 for major developments (and 2 Apr 2024 for small sites) at +10% net gain, managed for 30 years—a key private‑finance lever for LR. (Gov.uk guidance, BNG metric)
What LR is for (2025)
Designed for transformational land‑use change that individual farm schemes can’t deliver alone:
- Restoring priority habitats at scale (peat, wetlands, species‑rich grassland, saltmarsh)
- Woodland creation & connectivity to stitch fragmented sites together
- River & floodplain re‑naturalisation and natural flood management
- Species reintroductions (where licensed) and keystone species recovery
- Long‑term net environmental gain aligned to net zero, protected sites and wildlife‑rich habitat priorities. (Applicant guidance, 2023)
Funding model (how money flows)
Two stages with different purposes and rules:
1. Project Development Phase (PDP) – typically up to ~24 months
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- Pays for baselining (surveys, mapping), governance, consents, partnership building, detailed delivery and monitoring plans.
- Round 1 PDP total was ~£12m across 22 projects. (Defra blog, Dec 2022)
2. Implementation – bespoke, negotiated payments over ~20 years
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- Capital works (e.g. bunds, scrapes, leaky dams, fencing, planting)
- Habitat creation/restoration costs
- Ongoing management & monitoring
- Income foregone, where relevant
- Blended finance expected: stack public LR payments with private income from BNG units, Woodland Carbon Code/Peatland Code credits, and water‑company/catchment funds. (Applicant guidance, Nature Markets update, 2024)
Tip: Use PDP to lock in value‑for‑money and line up private co‑funding before implementation starts.
Eligibility & control (who can apply)
- Who: Landowners, tenants, charities/NGOs, estate clusters and public bodies in collaboration with private land managers. (Applicant guidance)
- Where: England; projects commonly organised by catchment/landscape.
- Control: You must demonstrate management control and secure needed consents (EIA, protected species licences, SSSI consents, watercourse works, beaver licensing where relevant).
- Stacking: LR can sit alongside SFI/CS without double‑funding the same action; LR pays for the additional, landscape‑scale change. (See NFU overview: link)
What good looks like (selection signals)
- 500–5,000 ha+ partnership with clear governance and tenant‑landowner alignment
- Quantified outcomes: habitat hectares, km of watercourse restored, peat emissions avoided, species/corridor targets
- Robust PDP plan: surveys, stakeholder engagement, permissions, monitoring & data plan
- Blended finance plan: route to BNG units, Woodland/Peatland Code, water‑industry co‑funding, corporate nature targets
- Long‑term safeguards: e.g. conservation covenants so gains outlive funding
Scoring criteria for Round 2 emphasised net zero, protected sites and wildlife‑rich habitats—assume similar priorities continue. (Criteria & scoring)
Examples from funded rounds
- River catchments: channel re‑naturalisation, floodplain reconnection and gravel restoration to lift salmonid spawning success while reducing flood peaks.
- Peatland re‑wetting: ditch blocks, bunds and sphagnum to store carbon and restore wet‑grassland bird habitat at landscape scale.
- Woodland networks: filling gaps between ancient woods to create corridors for dormice and bats.
- Beaver‑ready catchments: planning for licensed wild releases to deliver natural flood management and wetland creation. (See Natural England’s 2025 update on licensing: link)
Together, Round 1 and Round 2 indicate LR is now operating at genuine landscape scale in England.
Application pack: your 10‑point checklist
- Partnership map with letters of participation and an MoU
- GIS Redline & opportunity map showing target habitats/corridors
- Baseline plan (surveys, data standards, KPIs, monitoring design)
- Consents & licensing plan (EIA/NE/EA/SSSI, heritage & flood risk)
- Delivery plan (capital works, sequencing, seasonal windows)
- Governance & benefits (roles, tenant/landlord alignment, access)
- Blended finance model (BNG, carbon, water, philanthropy) with route to market
- Budget & VfM (PDP vs. implementation; unit costs and contingencies)
- Long‑term safeguards (covenants/agreements; data stewardship)
- Risk register (drought/flood, invasive species, wildfire, disease)
Where LR sits among ELM options
- SFI – farm‑level actions and standards on single holdings
- Countryside Stewardship – targeted habitat features and capital items
- Landscape Recovery – bespoke, multi‑holding, long‑term transformation across whole landscapes. (ELM collection)
Monitoring, evidence & investor confidence — with Chirple
Landscape‑scale projects live or die by proof of outcomes. Automated bioacoustics lets you monitor biodiversity continuously across thousands of hectares—without sending surveyors out every week.
Chirple provides:
- Solar‑powered acoustic sensors designed for long deployments in remote sites
- On‑device species detection to reduce data loads and catch seasonal change
- Baseline vs. uplift analytics for LR KPIs (indicator species, corridor use)
- Web portal for partners (water companies, NGOs, councils) to access verified records
Result: lower monitoring cost per hectare, faster feedback loops for adaptive management, and a stronger case when stacking BNG and carbon finance with LR funding.
Useful links
- Defra Round 2 overview and projects list: Defra blog
- How LR agreements are structured for ~20 years: Defra blog
- Applicant guidance and scoring (Round 2): Gov.uk
- BNG – what it is and why it matters for finance stacking: Gov.uk
