Peak District farmers have taken £1.65m from Government for landscape projects

Among national figures announced at the All Party Parliamentary Group for National Parks on Tuesday, June 20, it emerged that 362 applicants to the Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) scheme were based in the Peak District, out of some 5,000 across England who have received support since FiPL launched in 2021.

Grants from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for 242 individual or collaborative projects in the Peak District total £1.65million, directed through the Peak District National Park Authority.

Phil Mulligan, the authority’s chief executive, said: “Our work to help farmers and land owners engage with the FiPL programme is important in collaboratively driving forward sustainable land management initiatives. We support farm businesses that are active in nature recovery, heritage conservation, improving public access and enhance the Peak District’s quality and character.

“Farmers and other land managers play a vital role in shaping the landscapes they operate within and our case studies show that good work is being achieved. With FiPL funding available until March 2025, we continue to look to support nature-friendly, sustainable farm businesses, which in turn contribute to a more thriving local economy and vibrant communities.”

A grant of £25,494 to Signings Farm, in Windmill, has paid for mobile cattle handling equipment to manage a herd grazing on a Site of Special Scientific Interest, which should improve the soil and encourage flower-rich grasslands and species such as curlew. Two dewponds have also been restored as a habitat for great crested newts.

Farmer John Elliott said: “It feels good to get the support we need to bring the land back into better condition. There’s nothing finer than hearing curlew when I’m out and about dealing with the cattle.”

Other funded projects included planting trees and hedgerows to create wildlife corridors, investing in infrastructure to improve hay meadow management, repairing heritage structures such as limekilns, and creating new footpaths for people to visit interesting landscape features.

The Eastern Moors Partnership has received funding for a thermal drone to track deer and wildfires, RSPB Coombes Valley is using the region’s first digital cattle collars to control grazing areas, and Under Whitle Farm, in Sheen, now has a solar-powered pump to deliver water to animal troughs, rather than drawing from streams.

Tom Mills, of Bubnell Cliff Farm in Baslow and a member of the local FiPL assessment panel, said: “As a farmer and a LAP member it has been great to see so many diverse and wonderful projects supported through the FiPL grant scheme.

“It’s a farmer-led scheme, which is really important to the farming community of the Peak District, so it has been great to see the positive feedback about how simple the process has been and how it has helped support farmers and land managers throughout the National Park to implement sustainable farming practices, increase biodiversity and support rural enterprise.”

FiPL is part of the government’s agriculture transition plan, an interim step to replace European Union funding and policies before the UK’s Environmental Land Management scheme launches in 2024.

For more details, see www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/farmers, call 01629 816 270 or email [email protected].

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