Farmers paid to slow the flow in recovery scheme

The Evenlode Landscape Recovery scheme is one of the UK’s first large-scale projects to officially move from planning into full delivery across Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire.

This innovative project marks a significant shift in flood risk management by pioneering a blended finance model where major infrastructure operators fund upstream environmental land management directly. Network Rail and Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks are among the key partners investing millions into the project to protect critical national assets, including railway lines and electricity substations, from severe weather disruption.

The project is led by the North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster, bringing together more than fifty farms to manage over 3,000 hectares of land. Under twenty-year agreements backed by public funds from Defra alongside private investment, farmers are being paid to transform less productive and flood-prone acreage into wetlands, woodlands, and meadows. These landscape interventions are strategically designed to restore natural floodplains, improve soil health, and slow the flow of water higher up in the catchment before it can reach vital infrastructure.

For infrastructure providers, the business case for funding agricultural land management is clear and proactive. Network Rail has highlighted that the local railway crosses the River Evenlode twenty-seven times, creating numerous geographical pinch points where rising waters regularly threaten service continuity. Similarly, electricity providers are backing the scheme to safeguard vulnerable substations, thereby reducing long-term emergency maintenance costs and protecting consumers from the financial burden of cascading asset failures. This collaborative framework demonstrates how aligning agricultural transition with national infrastructure resilience can provide sustainable protection for the economy, local communities, and the environment.

[Main image created by Shutterstock AI for illustrative purposes]