Pond restoration funding

Norfolk Wildlife Trust are seeking landowners that would like funding to restore ponds on their land.

Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) are a delivery body for Natural England’s District Level Licensing Scheme (DLL), which is a landscape-scale scheme designed to compensate for the impacts of development on great crested newt (GCN) habitat.

The DLL funding can be used to restore both existing ponds that have become overgrown and ghost ponds that have been previously filled in. The scheme can pay for 100% of the cost of pond restoration work, including tree/scrub removal, excavation work, and pre and post work surveys which can be under taken by Norfolk Wildlife Trust. The work is organised by NWT and there is very little paperwork required. Ponds restored under the DLL scheme are also eligible for funding to carry out periodic maintenance over the next 25 years.Monitoring will be carried out by NWT staff, with landowner consent, a maximum of once per year.

Scheme eligibility - To be eligible for Natural England’s DLL funding, a pond must:

1. be within Natural England’s GCN Strategic Opportunity Areas, which identify areas with the greatest potential for GCN –NWT can check this.

2. be in need of restoration via mud removal and/or tree/scrub clearance.

3. not have great crested newts recorded in them currently (NWT can do a records check for this).

4. be free of invasive non-native plant species (NWT staff can check this on a site visit).

5. not currently be in a stewardship scheme.

In order to qualify for funding, any ponds restored should deliver high-quality breeding habitat for great crested newts. After restoration work the pond should:

6. hold water through at least two summers in three on average.

7. be between 150 and 1,000 square metres in size.

8. have at least a 3-metre buffer around the pond if located near sources of nutrients or pollution.

9. not be connected to ditches or land drains, to ensure the best possible water quality.

10. not have fish present, to maximise the range of biodiversity in the pond.”

If you have ponds that you are interested in restoring, please contact ponds@norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk