England’s largest contiguous tract of land dedicated to nature restoration is to be created in Northumberland after a 7,500-acre estate was acquired by a conservation company in a deal intended to showcase landscape-scale environmental recovery.
Restore has bought Emblehope Estate, near Hexham, and plans to rewet about 800 hectares of degraded peatland, restore thousands of acres of vegetation and introduce conservation grazing. The estate, between Kielder Forest and Northumberland National Park, could eventually seek UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status.
The acquisition, worth just under £9 million, was financed through a combination of philanthropy, private investment and senior debt, including funding from a donor-advised fund, impact investors and Triodos Bank UK. Restore has said that it expects the restored landscape to generate almost £40 million in natural capital revenues over its lifetime.
Benedict Macdonald, founder and director of Restore, said in a media release announcing the acquisition: “What has long been missing from the English uplands is a large-scale site dedicated primarily to the most ambitious forms of nature restoration.”
The restoration programme is expected to take 30 years, creating a shifting mosaic of bog, open water, scrub, dwarf trees and floral glades. Blocking drainage channels is intended to increase the peatland’s capacity to retain water, with modelling suggesting that an additional 100,000 cubic metres could eventually be stored, equivalent to about 40 Olympic swimming pools.
Restore hopes improved habitats will encourage species including curlew, golden eagle and common crane to return naturally.
The project is also intended to provide an economic transition for the local area. Restore plans to create jobs in land stewardship, woodland management and community engagement and has committed to a just transition for staff employed under the previous ownership. Existing estate employees will be offered opportunities to remain involved, including through roles in woodland management and restoration.
The company said it would work with local businesses and communities to ensure the project delivered lasting economic, as well as environmental, value for Northumberland, England’s most sparsely populated county.
Tony Juniper, chairman of Natural England, said: “The acquisition of Emblehope is an exciting development for Nature recovery in England.”
The project is being presented as a potential model for financing large-scale nature recovery, combining private and philanthropic capital with revenues from natural capital markets. Restore has also partnered with 30×30 UK to develop units through which businesses can fund verified restoration work.
The acquisition comes as the Government seeks to advance its commitment to protect and restore 30 per cent of land and sea by 2030, with Emblehope offering a test of whether private capital can help deliver nature recovery at a scale traditionally associated with public land ownership.
