The Local Investment in Natural Capital (LINC) Lowland Peat Pilot Project saw the development of an exciting project in the northeast of the catchment in 2024. Cayton and Flixton Carrs are located south of Scarborough, and were once the location of the ancient Lake Flixton before becoming a mosaic of wet grassland and fen habitats.
Over centuries agricultural practices, including extensive drainage, intensive grazing and cultivation have led to loss of the area’s historical wetlands. The Carrs Wetland Project, led by Scarborough Borough Council, ran from 2006 to 2014 and facilitated over 10 land managers joining Natural England’s Higher Level Stewardship scheme.
In 2024 we engaged with five land managers in the area, and along with Yorkshire Peat Partnership (YPP) staff we surveyed 512ha of Cayton & Flixton Carrs for its peat condition and the potential for restoration of targeted fields through Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) or agri-environment schemes. We found significant areas where the peat was over 3m deep and had good potential for restoration.
We looked at the five farm businesses and provided them with impartial information about the potential for BNG (with help from YWT’s BNG Officer), Peatland Code and agri-environment schemes as a means to change land management on their least productive land along the River Hertford and potentially raising soil water levels in the peat during the summer months.
As well as benefitting the local wildlife, such as curlew and lapwing, such work will potentially reduce over 67,000 tCO2 emissions, soil erosion, damaging nutrient input into the Hertford, and surface run off and drought for the remaining farmland.
A new bid was written and submitted to the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (YNYCA) Carbon Negative Challenge Fund (CNCF) for £200k for YDCP and Yorkshire Peat Partnership (YPP) to work with farmers across the full 1200ha of lowland peat on the Hertford to explore ways to restore the peat, regenerate the wetland habitats and reduce carbon emissions from the agricultural peat.
We have also been in negotiations about the potential for a LINC 2 style project to continue and expand the work of the 2025 LINC Pilot.
