Peatland restoration grant

To reverse habitat loss and improve the condition of Welsh peatlands, we have capital peatland restoration grants of between £10,000 and £250,000 available. The total value available for the grant programme is £700,000. 

The peatland restoration grant will enable individuals and organisations to deliver peatland restoration projects during April 2026 to March 2027.

Project priorities

All projects will need to address one or more of the National Peatland Action Programme priorities:

• Peatland erosion
• Peatland drainage
• Sustainable management of blanket peats
• Sustainable management of lowland peats
• Restoration of afforested peatlands
• Gradual restoration of our highest carbon emitting peatlands

The peatland must also be in Wales. For any cross-border proposals, we'll consider only the Welsh element.

Grant funded projects will ultimately contribute towards achieving our future target of 1800 hectares of restoration activity in Wales each year.

Who can apply

• Individuals
• Public sector organisations
• Registered charities
• Universities, other higher education institutions and research institutes
• Third sector organisations
• Private sector organisations

Peatland restoration experience

Lead applicants must provide one of the following:

• Evidence of having delivered at least one peatland restoration project in the last decade
• Confirmation of technical support from a partner who has experience of delivering peatland restoration on the ground, and can provide appropriate technical support at cost
• Confirmation of technical support from a contractor with proven experience in delivering peatland restoration on the ground, and can provide appropriate technical support

Where technical support is provided through a partnership, a formal partnership agreement must be established prior to any work commencing. This is to ensure all parties understand and comply with the terms of the grant award.

If the technical partner is contracted and the associated costs exceed £5,000, the requirement must be competitively tendered in line with our grant procurement rules. This is to ensure value for money (VFM). It requires three written quotes and justification for your selection.

In all cases, regardless of cost, you must confirm and provide evidence that the selected partner or contractor has relevant experience in peatland restoration. They must also be capable of delivering the required technical support.

How much you can apply for

You can apply for between £10,000 and £250,000 in funding.

You can ask for up to 100% of your project costs.

We'll consider value for money when we make decisions about using public money to deliver our policy.

Ensure you specify the target hectarage to be restored as part of your application (in the ‘project description’ section of the application form). 

We'll view match funding favourably. Match funding can include:

• cash contribution
• any other external funding you are receiving for the project
• volunteer time
• staff time
  
  

When you can apply

We're accepting applications from 15 October 2025.

You must apply by 23:59 on 14 January 2026.

How to apply

You'll need a reference number to start your grant application.

We aim to give you a decision on your application by 31 March 2026.

Applicants must spend and claim for 100% of the grant value by 31 March 2027. Any unspent funds may not be rolled into the subsequent financial year.

The final claim date will be 31 March 2027.

Find out how to prepare and submit your application online.

What you can spend a grant on

• Direct project job costs, equipment, contractors and consultants, and one-off professional fees directly associated with project-related costs.
• Staff costs related to delivery of capital restoration work. These relate to staff employed by the applicant working directly on the grant project.
• Partner staff costs may also be claimed as direct project staff costs, provided they reflect actual costs, the partner is not making a profit, and they are not contracted as a commercial service provider. (If the partner is providing services on a profit-making basis or charging VAT, they will be classed as a contractor, and their costs should be included under contractor or consultancy fees.)
• Networking costs to liaise with relevant stakeholders (e.g. venue hire, mileage).
• Compensatory rewetting payments (please note that these payments must be made within the grant period).
• Overheads – we use a flat rate of 15% of direct project staff costs for most projects, but will also accept Full Cost Recovery as long as it is fully demonstrated and evidenced. Overheads include indirect costs that are not directly attributable to a specific project activity but are necessary for the general operation of the organisation and the delivery of the project. These may include:
• administrative staff salaries
• management staff salaries
• office rent and utilities
• IT infrastructure and support
• general office supplies
• insurance and legal services
  
  

Activities you can include in your application

• Restoration activities that address one or more NPAP priority themes
• Access improvements to enable machinery access to site up to a ceiling value of 15% of total project cost
• Site survey and mapping for designing intervention (rather than general monitoring and habitat surveys)
• Undertaking land-manager or owner engagement
• Scoping and obtaining permissions or consents
• Technical design
• Costing of restoration design
• Development of a tender-ready specification
  
  

What you can't spend a grant on

• Revenue costs (costs not relating to capital delivery)
• Capital restoration that does not deliver the NPAP restoration priorities
• Survey or monitoring not linked to capital restoration works proposed
• Clearance of trees/scrub where no other sustainable management action such as changes to hydrology or grazing are also implemented
• Purchase of equipment such as GPS collars/fencing/grazing infrastructure without confidence of subsequent use, e.g. by grazing agreement
• Visitor site information panels
• Boardwalks
• Funding your organisation's core activities
• Ongoing management or maintenance works
• Work outside Wales
• Funding commercial or profit-making activities
• Maintenance costs on Public Rights of Way
• Schemes where work has been completed or is underway
• Personal study or the pursuit of individual academic or professional qualifications
• Work within NRW’s statutory remit
• To fund grant programmes
• VAT (the costs should exclude any recoverable VAT)
• Activities which you currently or will have a duty to discharge through planning conditions

Funding cannot be used towards any mitigation or compensation projects for damage to peatlands elsewhere.

This funding cannot be received alongside other Welsh Government funded schemes to achieve the same outcomes, for example, Glastir Habitat Wales Sustainable Farming Scheme. Due diligence checks will be undertaken to check for double funding. 

What grant recipients will need to provide at application stage

For feasibility (survey-based) projects, we’ll expect grant applicants to:

• identify their project location on the Peatland of Wales map and/or be confident the proposed area is on peat.
• target hectarage of restoration expected

For delivery projects, grant recipients should be able to measure and provide:

• target hectarage of restoration expected
• GIS recording of peat depth data and planned intervention locations, if available

GIS recording will also need to be provided for all interventions during the delivery of your grant.

Other permissions or consents

If you need permits, consents or any other type of permission, you will need to complete this in addition to this application for funding. 

You must state any required permits, consents or other types of permissions on your grant application form.  You will be responsible for obtaining all relevant consents, prior to commencing works. 

Ensure you build time for this into your grant project plan. This includes researching in advance which consents are required, along with their processing times which can sometimes take several months.  

If you are successful in being awarded a grant, the award does not constitute any other permission or consent that you must obtain in order to carry out the works, including those needed from NRW itself.

Permits and permissions

Sites of special scientific interest (SSSI): responsibilities of owners and occupiers

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015

Before you apply, check if your project needs to follow the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (‘CDM’). It will be the grant recipient’s responsibility to ensure compliance with CDM regulations and any other relevant legislation.

How we score applications

Find out how we score competitive peatland restorations grant applications. 

Other funding options

If you're interested in peatland restoration but this grant does not meet your needs, contact us at npap@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk.