The Programme will pay for projects that, in the opinion of the Local Assessment Panel (see ‘Application assessment’ below), provide value for money and meet at least one of the outcomes listed below. The outcomes are split into four key themes:
Climate
- More carbon is stored and/or sequestered
- Flood risk is reduced
- Better understanding among farmers, land managers and the public as to what different habitats and land uses can deliver for carbon storage and reduced carbon emissions
- The landscape is more resilient to climate change
Nature
- There is a greater area of wildlife rich habitat
- There is greater connectivity between different habitats
- Existing habitat is better managed for biodiversity
- There is an increase in biodiversity
People
- More opportunities for people to explore, enjoy and understand the landscape
- Increased opportunities for more diverse audiences to explore, enjoy and understand the landscape
- Greater public engagement in land management, for example through volunteering
Place
- The quality and character of the landscape is reinforced or enhanced
- Historic structures and features are conserved, enhanced or interpreted more effectively
- There is an increase in the resilience of nature friendly sustainable farm businesses, which in turn contributes to a more thriving local economy
Your project must also support the priorities of the North York Moors National Park Management Plan. Page 11-12 of the Guidance for applicants outlines the priorities in the Management Plan, which are aligned with the themes of this Programme.
Funding is available for a wide range of measures. For example, the Programme might support:
- Re-wiggling a straightened watercourse, for the biodiversity and natural flood management benefits this can bring
- Replacing stiles with gates on public footpaths to promote easier access
- Restoring drystone walls or hedging
- Creating scrapes, ponds or other wetland to support a variety of wildlife
- Creating and promoting a series of farm walks across a cluster of farms, providing new access opportunities, links to the rights of way network and interpretation of farming and of the natural and historic features on the land
- Conserving historic features on a farm
- Rewilding an area of land and promoting natural processes
- Action to reduce carbon emissions, or the use of plastics, on a farm
- Accessing farm business advice
- Working with new audiences to enable them to experience the North York Moors
- You can apply for both capital and revenue spend.
Payment rates
If you will not make a commercial gain through your project, you could receive up to 100% of the costs.
If you will benefit commercially, you could receive between 40% and 80% of the costs, depending on how much the project will benefit your business.
The Programme will work alongside – not in competition with – Defra’s existing and new schemes, adding value where it is most needed. If a potential project can be rewarded through those schemes instead, you will be made aware of them.
You can still get funding through the Programme if you are in an agri-environment scheme, as long as you’re not paid twice for the same work.
If an activity is equivalent to one under Countryside Stewardship (CS), the Programme payment rate will be the same as the CS rate. If not, we will base Programme funding offers on the projected costs of an activity (with final payments made against evidenced costs).
Maintenance agreements
You will not need to maintain any natural, cultural and access activities you deliver as part of the Programme after your agreement period ends.
Capital infrastructure assets e.g. fences, gates, building restoration, must be maintained for five years from the date of completion.
Machinery assets (for example a brush harvester for grassland restoration) must be maintained for five years from the date of purchase.