The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is providing £30 million in funding between 2026 and 2029 through the Wildlife Rich Habitat Fund to support nature recovery.
The fund will help deliver habitat creation and restoration projects across the Broads National Park, enhancing biodiversity and supporting the long-term recovery of wildlife and natural habitats.
The fund provides a valuable opportunity to restore habitats including ponds, grazing marshes, fens and coastal areas. Eligible work could include managing water levels and wetland features, controlling scrub encroachment on fens, and creating habitats such as hedgerows.
The fund forms part of the government’s programme of action to restore nature, alongside the Environmental Improvement Plan, the Land Use Framework and new legislation to strengthen the purposes and powers of National Parks and National Landscapes.
Our budget is confirmed for 2026/27 and we expect to receive funding for a further two years (to 31 March 2029). Please get in touch if you have ideas for projects that will deliver wildlife-rich habitat creation or restoration within our funding period.
What it will fund (solely capital works)
- Creation on land where wildlife rich habitat is currently absent
- Restoration of certain habitats (for example grazing marshes, fens, reedbeds, , woodland with less than 70% native canopy, broads, rivers and streams where all pressures are addressed)
Eligible habitat types must be listed in Table 2 of TIN219 (Priority Habitats and Schedule 1 habitats) and be capable of reaching sufficient quality over time.
What the funding will not pay for:
- Land acquisitions
- Partial or insufficient actions
- Maintenance or enhancement of existing wildlife‑rich habitat
- Compensatory habitat required by planning
- Actions on protected sites designated as of January 2023
- Creation that destroys an existing wildlife‑rich habitat
Eligibility
- The Wildlife-Rich Habitat fund is open to the private, public and charity sectors.
- You must manage all the land included in the application and have control of all the activities you’d like to undertake, or you must have written consent from all parties who have this management and control.
- Common land is eligible for support. You can apply as a landowner with sole rights or as a group of commoners acting together.
- Land must not be one of the following protected sites: SSSI, SPA, SAC or MCZ. Other protected sites are eligible.
- Projects must be within or of benefit to Broads National Park, such as connected wetland habitats or hedgerow corridors.
- This is a programme of funding for one-off projects, not an agri-environment scheme. Carrying out a project through this programme will not affect your ability to enter other environmental land management schemes.
- Projects will be prioritised in line with The Broads Plan and Local Nature Recovery Strategies.
How to apply
For details get in touch with Andrea.Kelly@broads-authority.gov.uk or Juliette.Howlett@broads-authority.gov.uk via email.
The application process follows the same paperwork as our Farming in Protected Landscapes programme. For further details and relevant documentation, please see: Farming in Protected Landscapes
