Nature Networks Fund (round six)

Nature Networks Fund (round six) is sponsored by National Lottery Heritage Fund. Aims to strengthen the resilience of Wales’ network of protected land, freshwater, and marine sites, building capacity to accelerate nature’s recovery and engage communities.

Nature Networks Fund (round six) | The National Lottery Heritage Fund Nature Networks Fund (round six) Nature Networks Fund (round six) Nature Networks Fund (round six) Expression of Interest: Nature Networks Fund (round six) £250,000 to £1million Templates: Nature Networks Fund (round six) Application questions: Nature Networks Fund (round six) £250,000 to £1million Receiving a grant: Nature Networks Fund (round six) FAQs: Nature Networks Fund (round six) Nature Networks Fund (round six) Awarding grants from £250,000 to £1million, this fund aims to strengthen the resilience of Wales’ network of protected land, freshwater and marine sites and build organisations’ capacity to accelerate nature’s recovery and engage communities.

Is this the right programme for you? Are you an organisation working with natural heritage in Wales? Do you need funding for planning or delivering a nature-based project?

Does your project focus on improving wildlife and biodiversity in Wales in and around the network of protected sites? Do you require a grant of between £250,000 and £1million? If you answered yes to these questions, then the Nature Networks Fund is for you.

We’re delivering the Nature Networks Fund on behalf of the Welsh Government, in partnership with Natural Resources Wales. The aim of the Nature Networks Fund is to improve the resilience of Wales’ network of protected land, freshwater and marine sites. It is a key element of the delivery of the Welsh Government’s wider Nature Networks Programme, supporting its nature recovery targets such as ‘30by30’.

What is the protected sites network? The protected sites network covers Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, National Nature Reserves, Ramsar sites and Marine Conservation Zones. To check whether an area of land, freshwater or sea is included within one of these sites, please visit the Natural Resources Wales website and the Wales Environmental Information Portal.

Improving the condition of and connectivity between protected sites enables them to function better as nature networks . Nature networks are vital, resilient areas where habitats and species can thrive, expand, and adapt to environmental change.

Restoring connectivity in these networks will: prevent further declines in species and habitat condition enhance capacity to adapt to the climate crisis enhance provision of ecosystem services that support our wellbeing This fund also supports the active involvement of communities in and around protected sites.

This can be fundamental to the long-term success of nature recovery projects, as well as often having wider benefits for health and wellbeing for people. Eligible organisations can submit a maximum of one application as the lead applicant to the Nature Networks Fund. You may be involved in additional projects as a partner.

You must first submit an Expression of Interest to tell us about your idea. You may then be invited to make a full application. This page contains the main guidance you need to write your application, however we have additional guidance pages to help you answer the questions in our online forms and you should also read these before starting your application.

Your project must not start before we make a decision. We provide lots of good practice guidance . You can read the guidance that is relevant to you to help you develop and manage your project.

Explore our position and advice on using artificial intelligence (AI) tools in your grant application. If you are an organisation that is interested in applying, and if you’ve read the application guidance but still have questions, then please join us for our pre-application webinar for Nature Networks Fund (round six) on Thursday 16 July, 2–3. 30pm .

Register for the webinar. What Nature Networks funds Through the Nature Networks Fund, we want to support: Action on protected sites or the ecological networks that support them. This can include action outside of protected sites that will benefit the network as a whole (see What we expect from projects below).

The project should also demonstrate the sustainable management of natural resources across Wales. Action that local communities can equitably and actively participate in and benefit from. This includes supporting active involvement with a diverse range of people and communities (particularly under-served groups).

Community involvement should increase the network of people engaged with nature and build the resilience of protected sites and their ecological networks. You must include the Welsh language in all aspects of your work. Tell us how you will promote and support the Welsh language and reflect the bilingual nature of Wales.

Make sure that translations are included in your project plan and project budget under the ‘Other’ costs category within the project costs section of the application. For further information see our Welsh bilingual project guidance .

Promotion and acknowledgment of funding Planning early, and allocating appropriate budget, will help you to meet our requirements and acknowledge your grant in ways that are creative and suited to your project. Please include budget for acknowledgement in the ‘Publicity and promotions’ costs category within the project costs section of the application. We recommend you base these costs on quotes from potential suppliers.

Use our acknowledgement guidance to plan your activities proportionate to the size of your grant. We recommend that you consider evaluation from the beginning of your project. The more carefully projects budget for their evaluation, the higher the quality of the final report.

You can find further information in our evaluation guidance . At the end of your project, we will expect you to submit an evaluation report. This needs to be submitted before we pay the last 10% of your grant.

This should include details of how ecosystem resilience and/or habitat connectivity has benefitted (or will benefit in the future) from the investment. You should share relevant monitoring data and methodology. We will also expect you to share geo-spatial and other data on where your project has worked, to enhance Natural Resources Wales and Welsh Government data sets.

In addition, we expect you to submit appropriate species presence/absence records to your local environmental records centre and/or similar public records database. Further guidance will be supplied on this if you are awarded a grant.

If you are an organisation in the voluntary sector (for example, you might have a board of trustees and be funded by grants and donations), we can cover a proportion of your organisation’s overheads through full cost recovery. Full cost recovery means securing funding for all the costs involved in running a project.

This means that you can request funding for direct project costs as well as a proportionate share of your organisation’s fixed costs. This may include costs that partly support the project, but also support other projects or activities that your organisation provides, such as salaries of staff working across projects in administration, management, HR, or fundraising, office costs such as rent or utilities and legal or audit fees.

Funding that covers some of your running costs can be important for your sustainability, so we encourage you to consider including this in your budget in the ‘Full costs recovery’ costs category if you are eligible. Recognised guidance on calculating the full cost recovery amount that applies to your project is available from organisations such as The National Lottery Community Fund .

What we expect from projects Activities must deliver direct benefits to the protected site network now or in the future. This will usually involve improvements directly on a site or on surrounding areas that will improve the condition of features and connectivity of sites.

It can also include: improvements to accessibility of a site supporting organisations to reach under-served communities supporting organisations or individuals who are (or will be in the future) involved with projects on sites and/or ecological networks that support them. This could include planning, staffing, training, apprenticeships, green financing, acquiring evidence through surveys and so on.

Projects can operate on land/freshwater/sea both within and outside of the protected sites themselves.

For example, projects outside of protected sites might: improve ecological connectivity between specific protected sites act to benefit habitats or species outside of protected sites where they are also features of associated protected sites focus on a species which isn’t a feature of a site, so long as it delivers benefits to the condition, connectivity or ecosystem functioning of specific sites and their features benefit a habitat or species which currently isn’t a feature of a site, but which evidence suggests could become so be based around defined areas which are not currently statutorily protected, but which have similarly high biodiversity importance reduce external impacts on protected sites to improve condition, for example from nitrogen deposition or colonisation of Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) restore ecosystem functions around protected sites at a landscape scale In each of these cases, an application must include an evidence-based justification for the project’s eligibility.

The specific sites and features benefiting from the project should be named and the ecological rationale behind it explained. You will be expected to demonstrate that your planned project delivers against the management objectives or conservation objectives for the relevant site. We will be looking to fund a combination of capital and revenue activity across a portfolio of projects.

To understand more, please see What costs can you apply for? below. Identifying potential sites for connectivity Action to improve connectivity between protected sites will be most effective if it is located to enhance existing patterns of connectivity in the landscape.

Action is likely to be most effective if it consolidates, expands or makes linkages between habitat networks. The Nature Networks Maps are available to help with this and can be accessed through DataMap Wales and Wales Environmental Information Portal. DataMap Wales: Habitat Networks and Priority Ecological Networks Wales Environmental Information Portal .

Please select ‘explore’ from the main menu, then click on the ‘Ecosystem Resilience’ tab. The maps show modelled networks for a range of habitats that indicate how well habitat patches are likely to be connected across Wales and the Priority Ecological Networks. They indicate likely existing connectivity specifically between and around protected sites for different habitats.

The maps also present a generic buffer around all protected sites to draw attention to the importance of action in close proximity to existing sites. It is important to note that these maps are modelled outputs and are intended to inform, rather than to prescribe where action goes.

Other model outputs may be available, and there are other connecting features in the landscape, such as watercourses, hedges or even road verges, that could be considered when planning projects. Licences, permissions and consents Applicants must demonstrate in their application that they are aware of, and working towards obtaining, the relevant permissions and licenses to carry out their project.

You should include details about any outstanding permissions in your project plan, available on our templates page . Citizen science activities should clearly identify any licences, permissions or consents required, including site access and protected species considerations where applicable. Projects should ensure volunteers are appropriately trained and operate within legal and safety requirements.

Applicants must demonstrate how data collection aligns with recognised good practice. Projects should review the guidance on Natural Resources Wales' Citizen Space . Any projects requesting support from Natural Resources Wales in regards to data quality, storage and alignment with evidence needs, ensuring outputs are robust and suitable for informing environmental management should complete a citizen science collaboration request.

Application deadline and key dates Expressions of Interest deadline: 12noon on 5 August 2026 Application deadline: 12noon on 3 November 2026 Decisions will be made: February 2027 Your project completion date: 31 March 2030 The scheme is open to all organisations working with natural heritage in Wales.

You must demonstrate that you are aware of and have, or will be working towards obtaining, the right permissions, licences and consents to undertake activity on the protected site network or surrounding areas. The area you are improving must be in Wales, but you/your organisation can be based anywhere in the UK. We strongly encourage you to work with other people to develop and carry out your project.

A partner is another organisation or third-party body that is integral to the delivery of your project. Partners are not subcontractors. They will take on an active role in the project and will be involved in the project.

They will help to report on the project, attend regular partnership meetings and support project evaluation. If you plan to work with any other organisations to carry out a significant proportion of your project you must formalise your relationship with a partnership agreement. Many designated habitats and species occur on land that is owned by private individuals or for-profit organisations.

Projects can deliver works or activities on private land so long as any public benefit clearly outweighs any potential private gain and provided subsidy control rules are not breached. For example, we could fund the restoration of hedgerows or create farm ponds, provided they do not add financial value to the land or convey any significant indirect financial benefit that could breach subsidy control rules.

When working on private land, we understand there may be limits to public access. We do, however, encourage public access whenever practical. We also accept that physical access may not always be appropriate or desirable for habitat conservation reasons.

If improved access is possible, you may also wish to apply for funding for new infrastructure, for example paths or hides, that can help accommodate increased public access. Works can take place on land owned by a government department or arm’s length body provided they do not financially benefit from any investment.

If an environmental charity or partnership were to undertake work on such land, then it can only be for works that would not be covered by any statutory responsibility. What costs can you apply for? For round six of the Nature Networks Fund, we are looking to fund projects with a focus on capital delivery.

Projects should include a majority of capital funding and should focus on capital works. You can include revenue costs to support delivery of these works. Projects which put a greater emphasis on revenue activity must clearly justify the need for this approach to meet the outcomes of the fund.

It is important that you identify in your application which of your project costs are capital and which are revenue. The following are examples of capital costs and is not an exhaustive list.

the purchase of items associated with land management activities, such as trees, hedge plants, fencing and capital works items required to deliver the outcomes general costs incurred in installing the capital works, which include contractor costs for labour and use of equipment the purchase of machinery and equipment up to the market value of the asset the purchase, design and installation of interpretation panels, including translation costs consultant fees, other technical design costs, site surveys and professional fees such as ecological surveying Planning application fees and costs.

Fees incurred for statutory permissions, licences and consents are eligible, provided they are essential for the delivery of the capital project and are incurred after the grant is awarded.

contingency funding for additional capital costs (we recommend approximately 10% contingency) inflation funding to allow for cost increases in future years of project delivery full cost recovery or core organisational costs towards project delivery (voluntary sector organisations only) activity costs (events, refreshments, room hire, etc) project planning (feasibility studies, landowner/community consultation, governance reviews, consultancy advice on green finance) training and apprenticeships costs contingency funding for additional revenue costs (we recommend approximately 10% contingency) inflation funding to allow for staff cost increases in future years of project delivery You may not include costs for: ongoing maintenance or running costs beyond the duration of the project acquisition of land or buildings construction of new, large scale buildings (eg: visitor centres) costs for any activity that has taken place before a grant is awarded There are no requirements for cash or non-cash contributions for the Nature Networks Fund.

However, any cash, non-cash or volunteer contributions you provide can add to the impact and value for money of your project, which will be considered in assessment. You may not use this grant as match funding for a project from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, or vice versa. Please note: Do not proceed straight to an application.

You must first submit an Expression of Interest so we can provide you with early feedback on your project proposal. You may then be invited to submit a full application. We ask all applicants for a grant between £250,000 and £1million to complete a short Expression of Interest .

Please visit our Expression of Interest page for more information on how to complete your form. You must submit your Expression of Interest by the deadline of 12noon on 5 August 2026. We will use the information you provide to decide whether or not to invite you to submit a full application.

An invitation to apply does not guarantee a grant from us in the future, but does indicate that we see potential in your initial proposals. We aim to respond to your Expression of Interest within 20 working days. If your Expression of Interest is successful, you must submit your full application by 12noon on 5 November 2026.

Go to our online service to apply. You will need to provide relevant supporting documents, listed below, as part of the application process. Please visit our Application questions: Nature Networks Fund (round six) page for full details.

You can download the necessary templates here as part of your application. File sizes should be smaller than 20MB. Please note: Some of the supporting documents required for this programme are different to those stated in the online application form.

All projects must provide the following mandatory documents: a governing document (unless exempt) Audited or verified accounts. You must provide your most recently audited or accountant verified accounts for the last three years and your management accounts for the current year.

If your organisation's accounts are older than 18 months, or your organisation was set up less than 14 months ago and does not have a set of audited accounts, you must provide your last three bank statements or a signed letter from your bank.

a project plan and risk register (please use our template available here , completing all tabs) a cost template (please use our project costs template available here and you must separate costs into Capital and Revenue) land ownership documents, such as Land Registry or lease or Heads of Terms a map showing the location of the site(s) on a regional scale at least one map showing the locations of project works, with protected sites/features labelled.

a document that outlines your project management structure , so we know who will make decisions and how you will control change during your project a document that outlines the main risks facing the project after it has been completed and how they will be managed In addition to the mandatory documents, all projects may also include the following documents where applicable: partnership agreement ( mandatory if you are working in a partnership) job descriptions ( mandatory if you are creating new jobs or apprenticeships as part of your project) briefs for commissioned work ( mandatory if you are commissioning work as part of your project) calculation of Full Cost Recovery (if applicable) evidence of support, such as letters, emails or videos of support (optional) How we assess you application When we assess your application we will consider a range of factors including: the contribution your project makes to improving the condition and connectivity of the protected sites network in Wales your plans for ensuring everyone has opportunities to learn, develop new skills and explore nature, regardless of background or personal circumstances whether your organisation will develop and sustain skills and capacity to ensure a long-term future for the protected sites network in Wales how your project’s impact will be sustained If we receive more good quality applications than we can fund, we will prioritise projects which will: work in areas that most strongly support the delivery of Resilient Ecological Networks within the Nature Networks Programme as identified and evidenced from the Nature Networks Maps represent a geographical, biodiversity and lead organisation spread across Wales and across all previous rounds of Nature Networks funding When assessing your application, we will make a measured judgement on the potential risks to your project and current organisational risks – and we will look to see if you have identified these and told us how you will mitigate against them.

All projects will face threats and opportunities that you need to identify and manage. We want you to be realistic about the risks your project and organisation may face so that you are in a good position to manage and deliver the project successfully. You should also carefully consider inflation and contingency costs within your application.

Inflation for capital projects is likely to remain high for the foreseeable future. You should account for inflation based on the project timescale, plus other factors such as materials used, labour demands and location.

The types of risk and problems you should consider are: financial: for example, a reduced contribution from another funding source organisational: for example, a shortage of people with the skills you need or staff needed to work on other projects economic: for example, an unexpected rise in the cost of materials technical: for example, discovering unexpected protected species on your site social: for example, negative responses to consultation or a lack of interest from your target audience management: for example, a significant change in the project team legal: for example, subsidy control, or changes in law that make the project impractical environmental: for example, difficulties in finding sources of timber from well managed forests We aim to make decisions on projects by the end of February 2027.

Please note: we cannot start assessing your application until all the required checks are completed and we receive all the required supporting information. If your application is successful We will provide additional guidance on our monitoring requirements and legal conditions at the point of award. All grants will be paid in arrears, in regular instalments, on receipt of evidence of expenditure.

You must wait to receive permission from us before beginning your project. If your application is unsuccessful The assessment process is competitive and we cannot fund all of the good quality applications that we receive. If your application is unsuccessful, we will tell you why.

Community and third-party grants schemes are pots of money that you can use to fund other groups or organisations to deliver small projects that help you achieve your overall aims for heritage. They can help you enhance engagement and widen the impact of your project. Community grants can be used to fund activities or capital works to heritage assets.

They can be awarded to not-for-profit community groups or private owners of heritage to undertake capital works to conserve that heritage. Community grants cannot be given to acquire land, buildings or heritage items. If you are the lead applicant, you will manage the community grant process and funding pot.

You will be responsible for: inviting and assessing applications through a fair, open and transparent process establishing a panel to make decisions to award or reject grants reviewing progress made on the project to ensure it is satisfactory monitoring compliance with the terms of the community grant, resolving any issues and repayment of the grant if necessary In your application you should explain what the aims of your community grant scheme are, how it contributes to the wider project and how it will be managed.

We recommend that the community grants pot should not exceed £200,000. Individual grants should be limited to £10,000 for activities and £25,000 for capital works.

overall Grant Expiry Date acknowledgement of Welsh Government funding land and property in third-party ownership You will need to reflect these areas in your agreements with the community grant recipients, as you will be responsible for ensuring they understand and agree to the terms and conditions of your grant.

Agreements with third-party landowners, including private owners, must secure the management and maintenance of capital works from the start of the work on the project until 10 years after the project’s completion. You may include costs for managing the grant scheme, including the costs of adapting and setting up any third-party agreements and taking legal advice, as part of the costs in your application.

You will need to develop a fair and transparent application process with clear guidelines. You must submit your application and monitoring process to us for approval before the community grant scheme is launched. You should have clear criteria for applications and make these criteria publicly available along with a list of your awards.

You must undertake due diligence before awarding community grants.

As a minimum you will need to request the following from an applicant: the organisation’s governing document (unless they are a public sector organisation or private owner of heritage) proof of ownership if the project involves work to land, buildings or heritage items (for example, deeds, leases or any information relating to mortgages) copy of recent accounts or last three months of bank statements Decisions to award or reject applications must be made by a grants panel.

Members of the panel should not all be from the same organisation, and it should not include organisations or individuals who may wish to apply for grants from the community pot. This is a conflict of interest. You will need to ensure that the community grant recipients have complied with the terms of your community grant scheme and the grant has been used appropriately.

To do this you will need to gather evidence from the community grant recipient. The level of detail you request should be proportionate to the grant amount. You will need to resolve any issues with the community grant recipient including the arrangements for repayment or clawback of the grant.

You will have overall responsibility for reporting to us on the progress of the community grants and will need to produce an evaluation report at the end of your project. You must make sure that you allocate sufficient budget to undertake this evaluation work.

Legal and policy requirements We expect you to own any property (land, buildings, heritage items or intellectual property) on which you spend the grant or have a lease that meets our requirements. You must own the freehold or have a lease with at least five years left to run after the Project Completion Date. The Project Completion Date is the date we let you know that we have recorded the Project as complete.

All leases must meet the following requirements: we do not accept leases with break clauses (these give one or more parties to the lease the right to end the lease in certain circumstances) we do not accept leases with forfeiture on insolvency clauses (these give the landlord the right to end the lease if the tenant becomes insolvent) you may be able to sell on, sublet the whole or part, and mortgage your lease but if we award you a grant, you must first have our permission to do any of these If the subject of your project is land that is owned by a third party or multiple third parties we will usually expect the owner to become a joint grantee.

In some situations, rather than make the owner a joint grantee, we may ask them to sign an additional letter agreeing to comply with any terms and conditions that relate to their property. In this instance, a legal agreement should also be put in place between each land or building owner and the grantee.

There is no prescribed form of agreement but we have specific requirements which should be included in any third party owner agreements.

At a minimum, the agreements should include the following: confirmation as to how the land is held (freehold or leasehold) a description of the property (including plans) covenants on the part of the owner to maintain the property and provide public access in accordance with the terms of the grant (as applicable) a provision that any onward disposal should be subject to the third party agreement confirmation that the agreement will last from the start of the work on the third party land until 10 years following the Project Completion Date.

The agreements will need to be completed and in place before any grant monies are released for work on any land or building owned by a third party. We do accept applications for landscape and nature projects that are on both public and privately owned land, provided that public benefit outweighs any private gain for the individual land owner(s) where they are private individuals or for-profit organisations.

We have specific requirements for digital works produced as part of any project. This covers anything you create in your project in a digital format that is designed to give access to heritage and/or help people engage with, and learn about, heritage. For example, this could include photographs, text, software, web and app content, databases, 3D models, sound and video recordings.

Items created in the management of the project, for example emails between team members and records of meetings, are not included in the requirement. We ask you to share your digital outputs under an open licence. Our default open licence is CC-BY 4.

0. This helps remove barriers to the use and reuse of funded works, enabling greater engagement with the UK’s heritage. It also helps to ensure others give proper credit to your work.

Our regulations around digital works vary depending on grant size. Read further guidance on producing digital materials as part of a project . You must follow our procurement guidelines .

As an overview, projects with any single goods, works or services worth more than £10,000 (excluding VAT), should get at least three competitive tenders/quotes. For all goods, works and services worth more than £50,000 (excluding VAT), you must provide