13th January 2022

The increasing amount of Grants and Funding available in the UK offers great potential for Farmers and Land Managers to gain additional capital towards items of machinery for example which will help benefit not only themselves but the land and atmosphere surrounding. We have seen these grants being offered not only by the Government but also other organisations which are working towards being more sustainable as well following the aim by DEFRA to allow Farmers to feel more informed, empowered and enthused by the transition through the ATP. We have seen this in England with Severn Trent Water offering a scheme in catchment areas to help protect the environment.

This scheme known as STEPS (Severn Trent Environmental Protection Scheme), is predominately there to protect water quality and so far, there have been more than 1,900 projects awarded funding. This funding can be used for items such as cover crops, pesticide washdown areas, biofilters etc.

To be eligible for the STEPS funding scheme you must:

• Farm or have land in a priority catchment in the Severn Trent Region
• Actively farm the land

Altogether available there is £10,000 which Severn Trent will match fund, which is open until Monday 31^st January 2022.

Within this funding available there are several items in which you can get funding, which is dependent on the catchment area of Severn Trent you fall into. Examples of the items categories are:

• Pesticide options- eg: sprayer washdown/handling area and roofing, biofilters, alternative weed management in grasslands
• Nutrient options- eg: cover crops, watercourse fencing, livestock drinking troughs and pasture pumps, water supply pipe, roofing of existing manure and livestock holding areas
• Water resilience-eg: rainwater harvesting and constructed farm wetlands
• Farm Innovation-eg: precision farming equipment, clean and dirty water separation, and other innovation items

The Map below highlights the catchment areas eligible for the STEPS grant.

Any further questions and how to apply please contact:

Oswestry Office- Pip Maddocks- philippamaddocks@rogerparry.net or 01691 655 334

Welshpool Office- Amy Thomas- amy@rogerparry.net or 01938 554499