GR1: Create or restore grassland habitat

This item is part of Higher Tier Capital Grants 2025. You must read the Higher Tier capital grants 2025 guidance to understand the rules and how to apply.

If you’re applying for this item as part of a Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) application, you must read the CSHT applicant’s guide to understand the rules and how to apply.

How much you’ll be paid

£186.02 per hectare (ha)

How this item benefits the environment

It helps to create and restore grassland habitat of high environmental value. This means many species such as bees, butterflies, birds or bats will benefit. Using this item will not disturb buried archaeological features.

Where you can use this item

You can only use this item with the support of your Natural England adviser to create or restore grassland habitat on:

• arable or fallow land
• temporary grassland
• permanent grassland you can restore to a habitat of high environmental value by reseeding, over sowing or planting

The site must have good potential to create or restore the habitat – check your chosen base action for an explanation of ‘good potential’. For species-rich grassland, this usually means it has a soil phosphate index below 2.

What you must do to use this item

You must:

• establish a suitable sward for the grassland habitat by the method agreed in writing with your adviser
• follow your implementation plan or feasibility study (if applicable)
• manage any areas of soil compaction (if needed) before grassland establishes
• control weeds and establish the sward by regular cutting or other methods in the first year or 2 years after planting seeds or plants – you’ll agree this in writing with your adviser
• restore the appropriate hydrology (site wetness) for the habitat if necessary

You must not damage historic or archaeological features.

Evidence you must keep

You must keep and provide a map with your application showing where you’ll:

• restore grassland (from permanent grassland to grassland habitat)
• create new habitat (from arable or temporary grassland to grassland habitat)

You can use GR1 to establish wildflowers, usually alongside GR3: Floristically enhanced seed mix for grassland habitat. When establishing wildflowers, you must provide soil analysis that includes:

• soil available phosphorus using Olsen P test
• the soil potassium status

You must give this to your adviser so they can assess the potential for the introduction of wildflowers.

You must have carried out the analysis either:

• within the last year
• within the last 5 years if there have been no fertiliser applications or increase in stocking levels since the last soil analysis

If you’re using GR1 to create or restore species-rich floodplain meadows, you must have carried this out within the last year.

You must also keep and provide on request:

• any consents or permissions connected with the work
• a copy of the advice from your adviser
• your feasibility study or implementation plan (if applicable)
• records of the activities you carried out to establish the sward
• photographs showing any areas before activity starts
• photographs of the management you carried out

Read the record keeping and site visit requirements in the Agreement holder’s guide: Capital Grants, Higher Tier capital grants and Protection and Infrastructure grants for more information.

If you’re applying for this item as part of a Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) application, read the record keeping and site visit requirements in the CSHT agreement holder’s guide.

Other items and actions you may use with this item

To plan and prepare your site you can use these capital plans:

PA1: Implementation plan

PA2: Feasibility study

You can also use FM2: Carry out customised capital works to manage specific sites or species to create or restore some sites.

You may use either GR2: Standard seed mix for grassland habitat or GR3: Floristically enhanced seed mix for grassland habitat to purchase the seed, green hay or plug plants.

You can use with Sustainable Farming Incentive action GRH6: Manage priority habitat species-rich grassland (endorsed).

You can use these Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier management actions:

• CGS18: Manage species-rich floodplain meadows
• CGS19: Manage wet grassland for wintering waders and wildfowl
• CGS20: Manage wet grassland for breeding waders
• CGS21: Manage grassland for target habitats, species or features
• CGS22: Manage priority habitat species-rich grassland

Advice to help you use this item

The following advice may help you to use this item, but you do not have to follow it to get paid. It’s not part of this item’s requirements.

You may need to carry out a feasibility study or an implementation plan (or both) before applying for this item. You may also need to do preparatory works and will need to discuss this with your adviser. Cultivating or reseeding may require an Environmental Impact Assessment screening decision, so you should check before you start any work.

You can use this item on features of archaeological, historic or wildlife value as identified on your Farm Environment Record, Environmental Information Map, Historic Environment Farm Environmental Record or on MAGIC where applicable. [CSHT]: Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier [ha]: hectares