2023-2024 Nature Restoration Fund allocation
Perth & Kinross Council has received £353,000 to spend on projects that address the drivers of biodiversity loss, namely habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and invasive non-nature species. The fund will be open for both internal Council projects and external community projects to further biodiversity across Perth and Kinross.
The fund will be open to community led projects that are a minimum of £1000 that meet the purpose and themes of the fund. This year there will be no upper cost limit on applications but projects must be value for money and be fully costed. Funds must be spent on capital projects (this includes tree planting or removing invasive species) but can be on any land (or water) that is open to the public or is designated for its biodiversity such as a SSSI.
Applications are open to projects which meet one of the following key themes:
Habitat and species restoration
Management for enhancement and connectivity: for example, creating or restoring native flower-rich habitats and grassland, extended hedges and field margins, planting native trees, and restoring or creating new ponds.
Freshwater restoration
Including restoration of natural flows in rural catchments: for example, reconnecting rivers to floodplains, bank works to increase habitats and/or reduce flow, erosion, sediment wash out, and increasing lowland ponds and other water and wetland habitats.
Coastal and marine initiatives
Projects which promote restoration, recovery, enhancement or resilience: for example, seagrass restoration.
Control of invasive non-native species (INNS) impacting on nature
Focusing on key species including Rhododendron, Japanese knotweed, Giant hogweed, Himalayan balsam, and American skunk cabbage: for example, working in partnership to bring an entire population of INNS under control across a large geographic region.
Urban
Enhancing and connecting nature across, and between, towns and cities: for example, creating "stepping stone" habitats for pollinators and nature-rich blue green infrastructure.
Nature networks
This year, 50% of the funding is to be directed towards projects that contribute towards the development of nature networks. We therefore particularly welcome applications that contribute towards the delivery of nature networks across Perth and Kinross.
Map of nature rich areas within Perth and Kinross
For an application, please identify if your project contributes towards the delivery of nature networks across Perth and Kinross. A Nature Network connects areas protected for biodiversity, and other nature-rich sites through a series of areas of suitable habitat, habitat corridors and stepping-stones.
For example, does your project connect to similar habitat in an existing nature rich area? Is your project a woodland project that connects to nature rich woodland? Is your project restoring wildflower-rich meadows that create a stepping-stone habitat to support Buglife's B-lines?
Making an enquiry or application
If you would like to enquire whether your project might fit the purposes of the fund, please complete our NRF Enquiry Form (office.com).
When you are ready to submit a detailed application, please complete the application form (Word doc) [68KB] and return it to naturefund@pkc.gov.uk by 4th September 2023. The Council's internal NRF working group will review all applications against set scoring criteria and select the highest scoring, best value for nature restoration projects for funding. Please see our scoring criteria matrix (Excel doc) [22KB] for further information on essential and non-essential criteria.
Applicants will be advised of their success in September. Projects can be multi-year but the phase of the project for this year must be set out clearly and the allocated funding spent, with the proviso that the funding amount the Council receives cannot be guaranteed for future years. All projects or project phases must be completed by 31 March 2024.
Funding for future years to 2025/2026 is included in the Scottish Government's Programme for Government so community organisations are encouraged thinking about pulling together a project for next year. Funding available for community organisations for future years cannot be guaranteed but application dates will be released as soon as possible after the Council is notified. Communities should also consider applying for the Council's Community Environment Challenge Fund.
2022-2023 Nature Restoration Fund Allocation
In 2022 the Council received £189,000 for nature. The funding for Community Greenspace allowed for outstanding work on management for nature in forests and natural greenspaces; invasive species work to take place and to provide machinery to allow communities to carry out nature friendly maintenance. Community groups, our Education and Children's Services and the Tayside Biodiversity Partnership were also invited to apply for funding for their own projects.
Efforts by these groups included introducing native trees and hedgerows, beebanks, and pollinator friendly plants, creating a species rich grassland corridor, extending a community orchard, creating and enhancing SuDS ponds, scrapes, and wetlands for amphibians and dragonflies, and restoring riparian habitat through landscape-scale invasive non-native species control work. Click to read the report (PDF) [1MB] on projects undertaken in 2022-2023.
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