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Environmental Land Management Test & Trial: CURLEW Contracts

CURLEW (Conserving Upland Rural Landscapes Environment & Wildlife) Contracts is one of over 50 Test and Trial (T&T) projects commissioned by DEFRA to assist the design of its new Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELM).

  • Project Dates: November 2019 – June 2021
  • Project Leader: Guy Garrod
  • Staff: Amy Proctor, Marian Raley, Mark Reed, Frances Rowe
  • Sponsors: DEFRA
  • Partners: Northumberland National Park Authority, Natural England

CURLEW (Conserving Upland Rural Landscapes Environment & Wildlife) Contracts is one of over 50 Test and Trial (T&T) projects commissioned by DEFRA to assist the design of its new Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELM). The project provided insights into key design issues for ELM through engaging with land managers in the Northumberland National Park (NNP) in the North East of England. This was achieved through the co-production of Land Management Plans (LMPs) designed to maintain and enhance the delivery of public goods on their holdings. Specifically, CURLEW Contracts used the development of LMPs to test 6 key questions:

  1. How can Land Management Plans be designed to align with local and national priorities and deliver at a landscape scale?
  2. What type and level of public goods could be delivered in this area and what contribution would land managers make?
  3. How will actions be prioritised, at what scale and what are the key decision-making processes that land managers will employ to facilitate delivery?
  4. How can the delivery of public goods be monitored in a cost-effective and reliable way and in collaboration with land managers?
  5. What kind of external knowledge building, support and advice would be required to enable effective plans to be developed and delivered?
  6. What kind of payment mechanisms would effectively reward and incentivise the delivery of public goods alongside other activities land managers undertake?

The principal output of this test is an amalgamated land management plan produced by the land managers group. The project was organised and facilitated by the NNP Authority and Natural England. The Centre for Rural Economy at Newcastle University acted as critical friend, providing research insights, specialist expertise and had overall responsibility for project evaluation and reporting back to DEFRA.

For the land managers involved in this T&T, the delivery of existing and additional public goods is inextricably linked to their primary function and identity as livestock farmers. For many, the provision of public goods is seen as going hand-in-hand with the production of high quality, sustainable food. Underpinning all of this is a desire to ensure upland communities and livelihoods remain viable in any future scheme.

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