Amenity and Accessibility Fund

Funding Criteria & Guidance for Applicants 2026-27

Important dates
How the fund works
How much can you apply for?
Who can apply & Geographic eligibility
What the AAF Funds
What makes a strong project
Amenity and Accessibility Fund Objectives
Essential Criteria and Fund Priorities
Desirable Criteria
Project budget
Panel Process
Project delivery and publicity
Monitoring
Payment of grant
Links
How to apply

1 Important dates

Closing date for applications to be received: 9th June 2026
Project delivery and completion: July 2026 to 10th March 2027

2 How the fund works

The National Landscape Grants Officer is available to give support and advice before applying through to project completion. Contact: Oka Last [email protected]. Tel: 01394 445225

Once your application is received, we will acknowledge receipt by e mail within 5 working days and let you know when the Panel will meet to consider your application. We may get in touch to ask for further supporting information.

After the Panel Meeting we will let you know the outcome of your application. If your application is successful a formal grant offer letter and funding agreement will be sent to confirm any grant award and conditions.

Grant payment is usually made in arrears, upon completion of the project, but a 50% up front interim payment may be requested when returning the agreement.

3 How much can you

apply for?

There is formally no limit on the amount to be applied for per application. The panel usually award up to £3,000 per project although in exceptional circumstances higher awards may be made.

Grants are awarded for up to 75% of overall project value. The applicants own 25% may be in the form of in kind contributions. Up to 20% of the project value may be grant support of overhead costs e.g. staff and office costs. Up to 100% grant support of project costs will be available in exceptional circumstances where the project is particularly innovative or does not have access to alternative funding, although in most cases this will require a very clear demonstration of community support. See Project Budget Section 10 for more.

In kind contributions - All applicants are encouraged to present within their budget their own contributions to the project delivery, for example, an estimate of in kind volunteer time that will be spent on delivering the project. This helps the grant panel to consider how your project will bring added value to Fund area and National Landscape communities. See Project Budget Section 10 for more.

4 Who can apply and

Geographic eligibility

The Fund is open to organisations and groups from the public, private or voluntary sectors. Whilst applications from individuals are not precluded, there needs to be wider public benefit and it is expected that in most cases applications will be submitted on behalf of organisations, groups of people or partnerships.

The Government commissioned Landscapes Review of National Landscapes and National Parks (2019) identified the need to engage with a broader range of society in delivering National Landscape purpose. The National Landscapes are committed to equality of opportunities to access the Amenity and Accessibility Fund and seek to attract applications from the widest range of society possible.

Geographic Eligibility

The geographic area for the AAF is part of the Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape, defined by following the Western boundary of the National Landscape, and then by a northern boundary of the south bank of the River Blyth, and a southern boundary of the north bank of the River Deben. You may view the map of the geographic area for the AAF here: AAF fund area.

Applicants may come from within or outside the designated AAF fund area. Projects need not necessarily be based in the AAF fund area, however, projects must meet the criteria of the Fund to further the conservation and enhancement of the National Landscape. A grant award may be made to a project located outside of the AAF fund area where benefit is seen to be achieved for/within the AAF fund area, for example (but not limited to) projects that benefit transient wildlife or enhance landscape views from the AAF fund area.

5 What the Amenity and Accessibility Fund funds

The Fund supports a wide range of costs, essentially, everything that is needed to complete (or develop) a project, that falls within the criteria of the grant, may be funded. The following list is not all encompassing but gives examples of what costs the AAF may support: capital works, practical conservation work, public access and infrastructure improvements, activities, training, equipment, materials, technology, information and interpretation, native planting, publicity, contract work or professional services.

6 What makes a strong project?

Please see the Suffolk and Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape website for summaries of past funded projects and to read case studies. Successful applications clearly demonstrate benefits to the AAF fund area and strongly meet the Criteria of the Fund. Recommended reading about the vision of National Landscapes may be found in Links Section 15.

7 Fund Objectives

The AAF objectives are primarily those of the Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape, with additional objectives specifically about amenity and accessibility. Projects must demonstrate that they will deliver specific actions or objectives identified within the current, and subsequent, National Landscape Management Plan for the area, and by fulfilling amenity and accessibility objectives. For the Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths Management Plan see Links Section 15.

National Landscape objectives

The primary objectives of the AAF are to support the statutory purpose of National Landscapes:

To conserve and enhance natural beauty and maintain the special qualities of the landscape.

In addition, the 1991 Policy Statement on National Landscapes identifies three related purposes:

Recreation (‘the demand for recreation should be met insofar as this is consistent with the conservation of natural beauty’)
Socio-economic (‘account should be taken of the needs of agriculture, forestry, other rural industries, and the economic and social needs of local communities’)
Sustainable development (‘particular regard should be paid to promoting sustainable forms of social and economic development that in themselves conserve and enhance the environment’)

Amenity and Accessibility objectives

Amenity projects shall seek to offset the impact caused by the delay of the release of part of the Sizewell B site, and include:

Projects that improve the environment, natural character and/or sense of place of the area
Projects that improve the visual appearance of the area and thereby increase the enjoyment and experience of the National Landscape for residents and visitors.
Projects that conserve and enhance the area’s natural beauty and maintain the special qualities of the landscape.

Accessibility projects shall seek to offset the impact caused by the delay of the release of part of the Sizewell B site, and include:

Projects that improve sustainable access to the area, within the locality of the Sizewell B dry fuel store developments and its wider environs.
They may also include projects that improve peoples’ intellectual access to the area, for example through the production of interpretation materials.

8 Essential Criteria

and Fund Priorities

The Fund is particularly keen to encourage projects that are pertinent to its key priorities. Preference will therefore be given to projects that cover one or all of the following:

Conservation of landscape character and enhance the distinctive nature of the National Landscape
Conservation of biodiversity and lessen fragmentation of habitats
Conservation of the historic resources of the area including landscapes and the built environment
Conservation of the geodiversity of the area
Provision and enhance of access and recreation provision
Provision of interpretation that improves understanding, guides behaviour and helps people enjoy the National Landscape

It will be useful for applicants to consider how their project helps to meet National Landscape objectives (Section 7) and how their project contributes to environmental, social and economic sustainability. The below table shows ways in which a funded project may meet the sustainability objectives.

Essential Criteria – Sustainability

1 Environmental sustainability

Will your project?:

Conserve and enhance nature and biodiversity
Enhance character of distinctive landscapes
Sustain natural resources and geodiversity of the landscape
Conserve and enhance historic resources e.g. landscape, archaeology, built or cultural heritage
Support climate sustainability e.g. carbon reduction and sustainable practice such as using local, sustainably sourced materials
Encourage sustainable travel and minimise adverse transport impacts

2 Social sustainability

Will your project?:

Develop community infrastructure
Provide training or build community capacity to deal with challenges such as health and wellbeing or water resilience
Provide new or improved local services
Allow access for a wide spectrum of society and improve access for underrepresented groups of people.
Have support or involvement of local communities e.g. volunteers
Improve understanding, guide behaviour and help people enjoy the National Landscape
Retain the tranquillity of the area

3 Economic sustainability

Will your project?:

Allow sustainable public access and recreation
Help the local economy such as supporting local businesses
Provide skills for the future e.g. volunteering/training
Generate its own income
Attract other contributions e.g. funding partners
Generate new or safeguard existing employment

Whilst the project does not have to bring equal benefit to all strands, there should be an element of help for each aspect, or certainly no adverse impact. Sustainable development is about the wise use of resources and avoids the development of one strand to the detriment of the others.

9 Desirable Criteria

A key aim of the scheme is to mitigate the impact of the DFS and thereby to support communities in ways that enhance understanding of amenity and accessibility of the area, while promoting co-operation and social inclusion. Preference will therefore be given to projects that meet some or all of the following:

Provide interpretation that improves understanding, guides behaviour and helps people enjoy the National Landscape
Demonstrate innovation or best practice
Promote or help to implement social inclusion
Actively involve members of the community
Provide benefit to the public and wellbeing
Involve or encourage partnership working
Involve young people and/or other groups underrepresented in the National Landscape
Have little or no access to alternative funding sources
Lever in contributions from other sources e.g. funding partners
Complement key local and national strategies
Provide potential PR for project and the National Landscape

Criteria lists in Sections 8 & 9 are not exhaustive and other activities may be eligible to receive a grant.

10 Project Budget

Applicants must complete a separate Budget Form - an Excel template is provided with the application documents.

For help with this, please do get in touch with the National Landscape Grants Officer with any questions or if you need an alternative formal of Budget Form.

What the applicant contributes

Panel decisions - Panels usually expect to fund project activity. Panels recognise that projects need resources to deliver them. Panels anticipate mainly seeing overhead costs being presented as in kind contributions from the applicant. In some circumstances, for example where staff are brought in to deliver a particular project the Panel will consider supporting overheads at a higher level than 20% or project financial costs at 100%. This would only be in exceptional circumstances where the project is particularly innovative or does not have access to alternative funding, although in most cases this will require a very clear demonstration of community support.

In kind contributions - To make AAF grants accessible to community groups, in the Budget Form, applicants may use the value of in kind help such as volunteer time to form at least part of their own contribution. Other examples of in kind contributions are staff time and loan of equipment, premises or land.

The Applicant should work out in kind contributions to project delivery as follows:

For unpaid volunteer time - use the below table values
For in kind staff time (paid) - use the actual financial value

VAT

If the grant payment is being made to a non VAT registered organisation/body/individual the VAT costs can be met by the AAF. If the grant payment is being made to a VAT registered organisation the AAF cannot meet any VAT costs (i.e. use budget figures excluding VAT).

11 Panel Process

Pre-panel assessment

Applications will be initially assessed by the AAF Advisors. They will look at the fund criteria and judge how well the project meets those aspirations. Applicants may in some instances be asked to provide further information to allow a decision to be taken. It is the responsibility of the applicants, not the National Landscape Team, to ensure that they have supplied all the required information.

Panel assessment

Applications will be assessed by the AAF Panel. They will look at the Fund objectives and criteria to judge how well the proposed project meets those aspirations. The AAF Panel will favour projects that really grasp the concept of amenity and accessibility, and have demonstrated how they are trying to meet the criteria and priorities of the National Landscape. The AAF Panel may advise that an offer is made for less than the full amount requested. They may also give guidance to the National Landscape Advisor to discuss certain aspects of the project with the applicant to clarify details before they give their final advice.

11 Monitoring & Publicity

Project Delivery

Projects must wait to begin publicity and delivery of the project until the formal grant offer letter has been received, outlining conditions of the grant award, and the signed funding agreement has been returned.

Applicants are responsible for management and delivery of all elements of the project, including payment of project costs and safety. All necessary permissions and procedures for the safe delivery of the project must be in place. Your delivery must not conflict with any Government or other statutory body advice.

Grants must be used solely for the purposes specified in the application. Any proposed changes from your original application must be agreed in writing.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing all projects must be completed by the following March (i.e. grants must be completed by the end of the financial year).

Acknowledgement and Publicity

Projects must comply with the Publicity Guidance for Grant Funded Projects. This document provides guidance on:
Conditions and expectations of the Amenity and Accessibility Fund
Acknowledgement of your grant award
Mandatory use of National Landscape logos
Proof-reading by the National Landscape Team of project materials/publicity before release
Use of digital platforms
Planning and delivery of project communications
Support available to your project from the National Landscape Team

The National Landscape reserve the right to use any material submitted for publicity purposes.

13 Monitoring

Mid-year update

We will ask for a very short mid-term update to keep the National Landscape Grants Officer in touch with the progress of your project and offer support as needed.

Final grant claim

When the project is completed it is mandatory that your final claim is received (by the National Landscape) by the deadline stated in the grant offer letter. This deadline is usually around early to mid March. This is essential for the National Landscape to meet it’s end of financial year deadlines and to feedback to the AAF Panel and funders. The National Landscape is unable to guarantee payment of the grant if the final claim is received later than the given deadline.

For the final claim, the National Landscape must receive project papers as follows:

End of Grant Monitoring Form
A Bank Details Form, or Invoice to the National Landscape for the grant payment
A short final report of approximately one page of text including general information about the project e.g. evaluation of achievements, numbers of events held, people and partners engaged, any challenges faced and evidence to support your final claim such as:
evidence of expenditure e.g. receipts/invoices
final budget summary
evidence of grant acknowledgement/project publicity
at least two electronic photos of the project that the AAF Panel and the National Landscape has permission to use in its own promotions

When projects don’t go to plan…

If there are any concerns about fulfilling the conditions of the AAF grant award, the National Landscape encourages project leaders to open discussions early with the Grants Officer. The National Landscape wishes all projects to succeed and will approach negotiations with the aim of reaching a mutually satisfactory conclusion that delivers benefits to National Landscape communities.

The National Landscape will safeguard the wise and legitimate use of the Fund through monitoring the progress of projects. This may also include site inspections or requiring further evidence of project delivery.

14 Payment of Grant

Grant payment is usually made in arrears, on completion of the project and final claim, but a 50% up front interim payment may be requested when returning the funding agreement. Advanced grant payment may be authorised to help with cash flow for smaller organisations and is unlikely to be for more than 50% of the grant offer.

Payment is requested by completion of the final grant claim, including a Bank Details Form or other payment options are available. Applicants need to have a bank account for grant payment to be made into. If this is not possible, the applicant may request (on the Application Form) to nominate a partner organisation to provide a bank account for project finance purposes.

The National Landscape is unable to guarantee payment of the grant if the grant agreement is not adhered to e.g. we may not be able to pay the grant if the final claim is submitted late or incomplete.

The National Landscape reserves the right to withhold or recover payment of all or part of any grant if the aims and objectives of the project are not fully met or if funds remain unspent.

15 Links

For more about applying to the SDF and other National Landscape grant giving programmes

www.dedhamvale-nl.org.uk or www.coastandheaths-nl.org.uk

Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape Management Plan

https://coastandheaths-nl.org.uk/managing/management-plan/

Dedham Vale National Landscape & Stour Valley Management Plan

www.dedhamvale-nl.org.uk/managing/management-plan/

National Landscapes Association Colchester Declaration

https://coastandheaths-nl.org.uk/managing/nature-recovery/

The Landscapes Review of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and National Parks (the Glover Review)

www.coastandheaths-nl.org.uk/managing/reference-library/landscapes-review/

16 How to Apply

A completed Application Form and Budget Form (preferably typed) should be received by the National Landscape by 9th June 2026.

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 01394 445225

National Landscape Grants Officer

Amenity & Accessibility Fund

National Landscape Office

Saxon House

1 Whittle Road

Hadleigh Road Industrial Estate

Ipswich

IP2 0UF