The Environment Agency and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs are seeking applications for the Natural Flood Management Programme.
Natural flood management (NFM) uses natural processes to reduce the risk of flooding. These processes protect, restore, and mimic the natural functions of catchments, floodplains and the coast to slow and store water.
Aims
The programme aims to:
reduce local flood risk using NFM
provide wider benefits to the environment, nature and society
accelerate new and existing opportunities for NFM delivery and financing
further improve evidence of NFM by filling knowledge gaps
Measures
NFM measures can include:
soil and land management
river and floodplain management
woodland management
run-off management
coast and estuary management
Funding Information
In September 2023 the Environment Agency and Defra announced £25 million funding for improving flood resilience through a new NFM programme.
Measures that are not eligible
The following measures are not eligible for this fund:
construction of hard engineered flood and sea defences – for example flood walls, engineered dams, artificial channels, water control and pumping installations, breakwaters, groynes, artificial foreshores
grey or hard engineered Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS)
ongoing management of vegetation or farmland, such as crop rotation, scrub management and changes to grazing regimes and livestock management
beaver reintroductions
You can use non-eligible measures alongside eligible NFM measures if they are funded from other sources as part of an integrated approach.
Eligibility Criteria
Any legal person or other legal entity can apply as the lead applicant.
Likely lead applicants include:
flood risk management authorities (RMAs)
farmers, land managers and landowners
third sector organisations including environmental Non-Governmental Organisations – for example river trusts and wildlife trusts
businesses
community groups
catchment partnerships
The lead applicant needs to be based in England, but any partners and benefits of the project can extend into Wales or Scotland.
The £15 million NFM Pilot Programme showed the third sector to be particularly effective at achieving NFM in partnership with landowners and others. Collaborative projects also helped to maximise multiple benefits and bring in other private and public funding sources.
They encourage partnership applications, with a lead applicant (such as a third sector organisation or RMA) coordinating delivery on the ground across multiple sites and landowners. This can help achieve more integrated solutions across a large area as well as being more efficient administratively.
They will carry out due diligence checks on applicants to provide confidence they are eligible to receive grant funding.
