WN12: Create or restore ponds up to 2 hectares

This item is part of Capital Grants 2025. You must read the 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 will be paid

£1879.46 per pond

How this item benefits the environment

This item supports the creation of a single, or ideally a complex of ponds. It restores the wildlife value of ponds that have become degraded, creating biodiversity hotspots. It supports the restoration of ponds lost from the landscape. This item can help you protect, recover and improve biodiversity on your land.

Where you can use this item

You can use this item:

• to create ponds of up to 2 hectares (ha, in combination with a pond buffer strip if the pond is next to cultivated land or intensive grassland )
• to restore the wildlife value of ponds (including ghost ponds) and bodies of water of up to 2ha that have become degraded – you’ll need to complete a pre-application assessment of wildlife and historic interest

You will need to get any necessary consents or permits from the Environment Agency, local council or internal drainage board before starting any work.

You will need to check if you need a felling licence from the Forestry Commission to carry out any felling or ring barking.

You cannot use this item:

• to create ponds within 6 metres (m) of a historic or archaeological feature identified in your Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (HEFER)
• within sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) or other areas of legally protected wildlife habitat, except with the written agreement of Natural England – you can obtain information on the location of legally protected wildlife habitats from your local biodiversity records centre
• to restore a pollute d pond where the source of pollution cannot be addressed

What you must do to use this item

To create a pond, you must:

• peg the outline of the pond before excavations start, making sure that the pond has an irregular edge
• create a total pond area of at least 50 square metres (m2)
• create a variety of water depths, including very shallow margins and other shallow areas, and pools no more than 1.5m deep
• make sure that most of the margin is gently sloping to create a large drawdown zone (the areas around the edge of a pond that are exposed to air when the water level drops) and extensive shallows
• establish a natural or semi-natural buffer of at least 10m around the edge of the pond where it is located within cultivated land or intensive grassland systems – funding through the Sustainable Farming Incentive or Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier is available to support this
• use mechanical means to control injurious weeds that colonise the spoil
• place any fencing at least 1m away from the bank top

You must not:

• link the pond to inflowing water from ditches and streams or drains
• introduce any plants or animals to the pond, or feed wildfowl or fish in or around the pond
• use the pond for irrigation
• plant directly around the pond
• use spoil to form a mound or bank around the pond or to fill and level neighbouring wet areas
• dispose of spoil on historic or archaeological features as identified in your HEFER
• use herbicides to control aquatic plants and bankside vegetation

To restore a pond, you must:

• assess if the pond has high wildlife or historic value and carry out the work within the dates determined by your pre-application assessment
• remove woody cover from at least half of the pond margin, especially the southern side, so the pond receives the morning sun over a large area
• remove fallen trees and trees growing in the water to create open water
• keep features of historic or archaeological interest identified in your pre-application assessment
• block or remove any source of pollution – for example artificial drainage flowing into the pond, so the pond does not receive polluted water
• place cut vegetation far enough away from the top of the bank to prevent decaying material and run-off from falling in and polluting the pond
• use mechanical means to control injurious weeds that colonise the spoil
• place any fencing at least 1m away from the bank top

You must not:

• re-profile or cut deeper than the original profile
• use spoil to form a mound or bank around the pond or to fill and level adjacent wet areas
• dispose of spoil on historic or archaeological features as identified in your HEFER
• use herbicides to control aquatic plants and bankside vegetation
• artificially introduce plants or animals to the pond, including fish or waterfowl
• allow supplementary feeding of fish
• plant the pond banks following restoration, or plant trees or shrubs around the southern margin of the pond or anywhere around a pond within an open landscape

Evidence you must keep

You must keep and provide with your claim:

• photographs of the site during the different stages of construction
• contracts, invoices or other documents confirming the technical specification for the completed works
• photographs of the completed work

You must also keep and provide on request:

• any consents or permissions connected with the work
• receipted invoices or bank statements where a receipted invoice is unavailable
• photographs showing the pond (or the location of a new pond) before the works begin
• the pre-application assessment of existing historic and biological interest for restored ponds
• a copy of any advice on restoring historic ponds from Historic England or local authority historic environment adviser if applicable

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 can use with this item

You can use this item with AC3: Install and maintain signage.

Sustainable Farming Incentive actions

You can use this item with WBD1: Manage ponds.

Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier actions

You can use this item with these actions:

• CWT15: Manage ponds and bodies of water up to 2 hectares
• CSW25: Manage riparian and water edge habitats
• CWT1: Buffer in-field ponds and ditches on improved grassland
• CWT2: Buffer in-field ponds and ditches on arable land

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.

Choosing a site

For best results, create ponds in low nutrient input, semi-natural habitats that have small catchments and are unconnected to other water bodies (to protect them from pollution). Aim to create or restore a variety of pond types with different depths, sizes and age, close to other freshwater habitats. Dig pits or look at nearby waterbodies to work out:

• what sort of pond you can create
• where the water will come from
• how long it is likely to hold water for
• how they fill up and retain water

Restoring ponds

Aim to maintain diversity in the pond complex by restoring them one pond at a time. If the pond contains a protected species, you’ll need a wildlife licence.

If you need fencing to protect the pond from livestock, consider temporary, gated access or offset fencing to allow a patchwork of habitats to develop. [CSHT]: Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier [ha]: hectares [m]: metres [HEFER]: Historic Environment Farm Environment Record *[SSSIs]: sites of special scientific interest