£700,000 awarded to farmers and land managers in the North Devon Coast National Landscape
Farming in Protected Landscapes funding to continue to March 2029
Since 2021 the North Devon Coast National Landscape Team have been delivering grants from the Farming in Protected Landscapes Programme on behalf of Defra. Working alongside a decision-making panel of local farmers and environmental experts £700,000 of funding has been awarded to projects focused on increasing resilience to climate change, enhancing biodiversity, and supporting nature friendly, environmentally sustainable farm businesses.
At the Oxford Farming Conference Emma Reynolds MP, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced that the programme will be extended for a further 3 years, until March 2029. Throughout the country the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme has supported more than 11,000 farmers across 44 protected landscapes, funding over 5,500 projects and establishing around 100 farm cluster groups.
In North Devon and Torridge our dedicated farmers and land managers have taken action on over 1000ha of land. This has included creating or restoring 11 ponds, 2.6 km of hedges, 115 hectares of wildlife rich habitat and planted over 2,100 trees. Other projects have also included activities to support wildlife, such as traditional woodland coppicing, and creating riparian buffers, and improving access with the installation of accessible gates and footpath resurfacing. Our farmers and land managers have also pioneered the use of GPS cattle collars to simultaneously enable conservation grazing and improve public access, helping to restore coastal heathlands and shifting sand dunes. Many projects have included elements of collaboration between neighbours or with local schools.
During 2024/25, as part of the FiPL programme delivery, the Historic Building Restoration Grant was developed, allocating £74,300 to restore farm buildings, and £38,800 for projects that improved access to the countryside.
Dr Eirene Williams, Chair of the programme’s Local Assessment Panel for the North Devon Coast, welcomed the announcement:
“After a period of considerable uncertainty for farmers, in general and financially, it was a relief to hear this good news announced at the Oxford Farming Conference in January. This is welcome, specifically for those in our coastal areas of North Devon and Torridge within the North Devon Coast National Landscape. Since September 2021, 65 applications for the Farming in Protected Landscapes funding within our National Landscape have been considered and grants of between £1,000 and £30,000 have been awarded to almost all of them. This is despite being one of the smallest National Landscapes and hence receiving a relatively smaller share of the overall Defra funding.
“The scheme has been popular with our farmers and landowners and achieved progress, on the ground, towards the national targets in the Environment Improvement Plan. This work has been supported by the Farming in Protected Landscapes panel of knowledgeable volunteers who give their time to consider and make decisions on the awards.
“We are all delighted to be back in business for another three years!”
The National Landscape Team are currently open to enquiries about the programme. To find out more visit www.northdevoncoast-nl.org.uk/farming-protected-landscapes or for further information, please contact Jemima Western our Farming and Land Management Officer on [email protected]
