Evenlode Landscape Recovery secures over £3m in investment from major infrastructure partner backing to protect regional assets

• Network Rail, SSEN and Oxfordshire County Council are investing in landscape-scale,

  nature-led flood management to protect their assets in the Cotswolds.

• These partnerships will protect rail lines, energy infrastructure, local bridges and roads

  from increasing flood risk, reducing disruption to the public by avoiding power cuts,

  cancelled trains and closed roads.

• Developed and brought together by the farmer-led Evenlode Landscape Recovery

  project, the partnerships demonstrate how private and public bodies can invest in nature to reduce long-term climate risks.

• An all-new blended finance model channels over £3,000,000 of funding from these

  partners directly to the farmers delivering the landscape change in 2026 alone.

Major infrastructure providers Network Rail, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) and Oxfordshire County Council have joined forces with The North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster (NECFC) to invest in landscape-scale natural flood management through the Evenlode Landscape Recovery project.

For decades, infrastructure owners have relied on hard engineering solutions such as

embankments, drainage works and pumping systems to protect assets from flooding. Now, in response to increasingly extreme weather events, partners are investing in the landscape itself - supporting farmers directly through blended finance to restore habitats that naturally slow, store and absorb water across the Evenlode catchment.

By partnering with the Evenlode Landscape Recovery project they join the UK’s largest farmer-led nature recovery scheme, which sees farmers get paid for changing the way they manage parts of their land as part of a £100 million funding package that has been secured with Natural England and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

This includes the creation of new woodland, meadows and wetlands on less productive land

that regularly experiences flooding or drought.

For the farmers the project offers a new reliable income stream, and one which successfully

balances maintaining food production with nature restoration, delivering real benefits for the

landscape and local communities.

By improving soil health, restoring floodplains and increasing the landscape’s capacity to holdwater, peak flows downstream can be reduced which lowers the risk of flash flooding thatdamages railway lines, substations, bridges and local roads.

For infrastructure owners, the partnership represents a shift in thinking: investing in catchment-wide prevention rather than repeatedly repairing damage at individual sites.

The approach is expected to reduce long-term maintenance costs while minimising disruption to passengers, energy customers and local communities.

The work of planting new woodlands and creating designated wetlands will be done by

specialist contractors working alongside local farmers, who will be paid to carry out the works and maintain the changes for at least the next 20 years through the public-private blended finance approach.

This model treats improvements in ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, natural flood management, water quality improvement and biodiversity uplift as measurable, investable outcomes, enabling infrastructure partners to fund long-term landscape change that directly protects their assets. Initial investments from these infrastructure owners over the next three years is expected to be in excess of £3,000,000.

The project is one of the first landscape recovery schemes in the UK to move into full delivery and is backed by more than £100 million in public funding. It has been developed and led by the farmers themselves through the North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster (NECFC).

In total, more than 3,000 hectares of habitat in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire will be restored by a group of over 50 farmers.

Tim Field, Executive Director of Evenlode Landscape Recovery, said:

“This partnership marks a new chapter in how we think about flood prevention and asset

protection. By working with Network Rail, SSEN and Oxfordshire County Council we’re

supporting infrastructure resilience with practical changes on the ground.

“Farmers are uniquely placed to manage water at source. By restoring habitats and improving soil structure across the catchment, we can reduce flood risk downstream while strengthening farm businesses for the long term.”

Ryan Barrett, Weather Resilience and Climate Adaptation Programme Manager at

Network Rail, said:

“In this area the railway crosses the Evenlode River 27 times, creating multiple pinch points

where flooding can disrupt services. Investing in natural flood management gives us an

opportunity to reduce risk before it reaches the railway and we are looking forward to working with ELR on our key risk areas to make the railway line more resilient now and into the future.”

Chris Bratt, Director of Asset Management at SSEN, said:

“We have critical electricity infrastructure in the Evenlode catchment, including substations that must remain operational during extreme weather.

“By investing in nature-based solutions upstream, we can reduce long-term flood risk to these assets. This proactive approach strengthens network resilience and, over time, helps avoid costs that would otherwise eventually end up being passed on to customers.”

Judy Roberts, Cabinet Member for Place, Environment and Climate Action at

Oxfordshire County Council, said:

“Oxfordshire County Council has been delighted to support the development of the flagship Evenlode Landscape Recovery project. It addresses pressing local issues like flood

management, contributes directly to Oxfordshire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy, and

demonstrates that climate action, nature recovery and a thriving rural economy go hand in

hand.”

Tim Coates, a participating farmer and Managing Director of Evenlode Landscape

Recovery, said:

“Achieving nature restoration at scale alongside continuing food production is only possible

through the collaboration of farmers working together, supported by both government and the private sector to fund and pay for the implementation of nature-based solutions that protect key infrastructure assets, protect communities from flooding and maintain a productive and beautiful landscape. These sorts of public-private partnerships can provide innovative blended finance that encourages farmers to manage their land for resilience, nature and food security.”