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Milestone 01


Wendling Beck Project


Initial Project Scoping


Green Finance Institute / GFI Hive / Investment Readiness Toolkit / Initial Project Scoping / Wendling Beck Project

Project Summary

The Wendling Beck Project (WBP) is a collaboration between four Norfolk landowners that are re-purposing almost 2,000 acres of arable land to create a landscape-scale nature recovery project. It has been supported since 2020 by environmental NGOs, local authorities, central government, and a water company as an exemplar for leveraging nature finance to drive land-use change.

WBP is demonstrating how new compliance markets, such as Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and nutrient neutrality (NN), can deliver high-integrity outcomes for nature alongside co-benefits such as natural flood management (NFM), climate mitigation, and social impact, whilst also balancing food production.

It is providing in excess of 3,000 biodiversity units, across 35 different habitat types to developers and enough nutrient credits to unlock ~2,000 homes in Norfolk. Through these and other revenue streams, employment across the Project is predicted to increase by 1,000% from the previous farming businesses.

Milestone 1: Initial Project Scoping

Often the initial task is to understand the site(s) you want to use and the land use change needed for nature restoration or creation. This includes considering the goals of the land managers involved, the vision within the wider catchment or neighbouring area, and whether there are permits or planning consent needed for any proposed changes.

At this stage, you can also conduct a high-level assessment to determine which revenue streams can be generated from ecosystem services , e.g. carbon credits, flood reduction cost savings, or biodiversity units, which will be crucial for identifying buyer interest.

Finally, it is useful to have an idea of the costs of the project and potential grant funding that may be available to support initial development.

Milestone 2: Identify and Work with Sellers

Initial ownership of the ecosystem services will belong to the landowners or, in some cases, the tenants of the sites that the project is using. However, these can be passed onto others, such as third-party project developers, with appropriate legal arrangements and compensation. In some cases, there may be a sole seller of the ecosystem services, where the site or landholding is large enough that it delivers the volume of ecosystem services needed to cover the costs of the project and attract buyers.

However, in order to achieve scale and impact, a project will likely involve multiple sellers, such as neighbouring farmers and estate managers. Scale of land is often needed to deliver significant environmental outcomes, and also to attract private finance.

Where they are not the land managers in question, project developers must plan how they initially contact and engage with these sellers going forward, building their wants and needs into the project.

Milestone 3: Baseline and Estimate Ecosystem Services

At this point, you will have understood the vision for the project and identified a particular ecosystem service or set of services to be sold. The next step will be to carry out detailed analysis – baselining each ecosystem service and quantifying what will be able to be delivered from the interventions, as well as planning how to monitor and maintain these interventions. You will need to rely heavily on ecological expertise for this more scientific Milestone.

At this step, standards, verification and accreditation methods will be considered in more depth.

Milestone 4: Identify and Work with Buyers

Based on your earlier market analysis in initial project scoping, you will have identified one or more groups of beneficiaries who may be willing to ‘buy’ or pay for the ecosystem service(s) to be created, restored or maintained. Buyers vary – as do their requirements – but at this step, greater buyer engagement is now needed to develop a deal that channels money towards the nature-positive outcomes that your project wants to deliver.

 

 

Milestone 5: Develop Business Case and Financial Model

You’ll have started building your business case and financial model in earlier steps – laying out your project’s vision, the market proposition and estimating costs and income. This step offers a review, in addition to providing details needed to build out the financial model and business case more fully. Both of these key documents will be iterated throughout project development, and will likely be altered during project delivery as new information emerges. These documents are interlinked and, if developed correctly, will ensure your project’s viability and help you with discussions with stakeholders – including sellers, buyers and future investors.

The financial model will also enable you to better understand the type of structure your project may take to attract investment (i.e.a loan, an equity investment, a bond) and what sort of returns you can afford to pay/offer.

Milestone 6: Develop a Governance Structure

A governance structure will inform the way in which the project is run when fully operational and for what purpose. It identifies appropriate decision making processes, who is responsible for what actions, and what controls are in place to make sure that the project is meeting its stated goals, all while abiding by the risk appetite of its engaged stakeholders. The legal entity to host the project will be a key driver in this, and the appropriate choice of entity will be dependent on several factors that are outlined below.

Your governance structure should align with and underpin your business case, as a necessary component of how the project will deliver its environmental outcomes and other strategic targets.

Milestone 7: Identify and Work with Investors

It is important to note that not all projects will need up-front investment, but for those that do, this section provides a framework for thinking around the development of the investment model. This does not constitute financial advice – as the GFI is not licensed to do so. However these considerations are based on the insight offered by project developers and other market stakeholders.

An investor will be a new core stakeholder in your project, and it’s just as important to think of what you require from investors, as much as what they require from you – so that you can build a positive and collaborative relationship with them.

This entails defining the investment ask (in line with the financial model), the strategy for approaching the right investors, and the negotiation of terms that can then be formalised in contract development (Milestone 8).

 

Milestone 8: Establish Legal Contracts and Closing

When all relevant stakeholders have been engaged and their terms of engagement are clarified as much as possible, this is the time to develop the legal contracts and close the deal. This stage is last because legal fees are expensive, and it is generally advised to determine as much as possible in previous stages before starting to draw up contracts in earnest.

Note: The information in this Milestone does not constitute any form of legal advice but instead serves as practical advice on how to manage engagement with lawyers and the process of contract development.

The Green Finance Institute is not a firm of solicitors or connected in any way with the courts. The information and opinions we provide in this section and across the Toolkit do not address your individual requirements and are for informational purposes only. They do not constitute any form of legal advice. We recommend that appropriate legal advice should be taken from a qualified solicitor before taking or refraining from taking any action.

Community Engagement

Community engagement is highly advisable for any project that aims to sell ecosystem services, to ensure fair outcomes for local communities and the long-term success of the project. Project developers can build connections with local stakeholder groups early on to spot both risks and opportunities.

Policy and Regulation

Project developers and enterprises will need to keep a continuous check on how current and future policy may affect the project, and also opportunities for the project to inform policy. The role of private finance for nature across the UK is being encouraged by the UK government and its devolved administrations, and new rules, standards and markets are being developed.

 
Quick Stats
  • Location: Norfolk
  • Size of Land: ~2,000 acres
  • Landholding sizes: 250 – 650 acres
  • Tenancy & Ownership: Owner-occupiers
  • Nature Market Focus: Biodiversity Net Gain, Nutrient Neutrality
  • Project partners: The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Anglian Water, Norfolk County Council, Breckland Council, Natural England, Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Norfolk Rivers Trust, Norfolk FWAG

 

Acknowledgements

With many thanks to the following individuals for their time and insight:

Glenn Anderson, Strategy Lead and Co-Founder, the Wendling Beck Project

Rob Cunningham, Europe Resilient Watershed Programme Director, The Nature Conservancy

 

Date Published: 04/07/2025

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Key Points:

  • The Wendling Beck Project (WBP) was founded by four neighbouring farmers seeking financial and environmental resilience.
  • WBP has worked with many project partners, including local authorities, environmental NGOs and specialist consultants to develop the project.
  • Over six months, WBP and its partners created a landscape masterplan, which has been a cornerstone for its ecological, business planning and stakeholder engagement.
  • WBP engaged environmental consultants and its Local Planning Authority to assess its early market potential for Biodiversity Net Gain and Nutrient Neutrality.
  • WBP has taken part in several DEFRA pilots in its project development, with learnings shared back to Government. It is also a key learning site for the Norfolk Water Strategy Programme.

 

Landscape and Original Land Use

WBP was initiated by four neighbouring farmer-landowners that collectively managed ~1,500 acres of intensive arable land, ~160 acres of horticulture (blackcurrants), woodlands, grasslands and wetlands. The land is primarily Grade 3 (light and sandy soils), reflecting the less productive characteristics of the land.

The Wendling Beck chalk stream (WBP’s namesake – a globally rare habitat), flows through the landholdings and links together three Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).

Figure 1: Wendling Beck within the East of England

Over the last few decades, all four landowners have witnessed a loss in species abundance and nature, coupled with extreme weather (droughts and flooding) of increasing frequency and severity. This was placing severe financial pressure on the farm businesses.

The landowners recognised that this financial pressure would only increase with the phased removal of the Basic Payment Scheme subsidies by 2027. Though other environmental payments (such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive) could be available, the landowners agreed that this would most likely lead to a disjointed, site-by-site approach and piecemeal delivery.

The landowners were keen to deliver a large, cohesive scheme working to Lawton Principles, and build both long-term financial and environmental resilience into their businesses by working with nature and diversifying income streams.

 

Vision for the Land

In the Project’s first year, the landowners developed an environmental masterplan that balances what they believed would be the best commercial and ecological outcomes for the land at a landscape – rather than land-holding – scale. This meant allocating specific areas for nature restoration, regenerative farming and other activities.

They worked with several partners, including The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Natural England, Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT), Norfolk Rivers Trust (NRT), and Norfolk FWAG.

WBP also referred to historic maps of the land from the mid-1700s, using this insight to guide the restoration of some lost habitats, watercourses and features.

With support from TNC, WBP commissioned environmental consultancy eftec to create a natural capital account, which identified an initial 700 acres to deliver significant uplift in biodiversity, carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services.

WBP appointed landscape architects and ecologists Digg + Co to design the masterplan. Glenn Anderson, Strategy Lead and one of the founding landowners of WBP, says: “The landscape masterplan is my go-to document for nearly every conversation about the Project… I had it printed on a large board and I use it to explain the scale and detail of the project and convey the story and the journey we have come on, I would be utterly lost without it!”

The masterplan was developed over six months, which included some baselining and surveying with eCountability (see Milestone 3). Though some changes have been made with more data collected, the  masterplan has remained broadly the same since September 2020, including:

  • 869 acres of species rich grassland,
  • 100 acres of woodland,
  • dozens of new ponds,
  • 10km of new hedgerow
  • 4km of restored river
  • 200 acres of restored heathland and scrub, and
  • 93 acres of wetlands (including fens, reedbeds and floodplain wetland mosaic).

Figure 2: Wendling Beck Project’s Masterplan

The masterplan has been designed to produce environmental outcomes from the land, including species recovery, carbon sequestration, flood reduction, improved soil health and water quality.

Other target outcomes that were sought in this design phase include:

 

Increasing connectivity and scale

In line with the Lawton Principles, the masterplan connects SSSI lakes owned by the landowners with neighbouring SSSI sites owned by NWT. Anderson comments that NWT has been a great mentor and source of knowledge to the Project, providing habitat planning expertise and long-term management guidance.

WBP has also sought to improve public access. Working with Norfolk County Council (NCC), which also has neighbouring land, the Project has received funding to upgrade an existing footpath that crosses the land to an all-weather cycleway. This track will connect the local town of Dereham to the Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse Museum, one of NCC’s key visitor and educational sites that is immediately adjacent to the Project. Future ideas include developing a nature-based educational and training hub.

Including the sites of NCC and NWT, the masterplan spans ~2,000 acres. Anderson says WBP’s scale and collaborative approach has been key to drawing in support from further project partners.

 

Regenerative farming practices

All landowners had a desire to reduce their carbon footprint and restore soil health, including the reduction of nitrogen fertiliser and diesel where possible.

Whilst c.1500 arable acres of the landscape are being transitioned into semi-natural habitat, WBP’s main farming area is now c.60 acres of blackcurrants, having been retained and are now farmed regeneratively by one of the landowners, Rosie Begg. Rosie is now the Regenerative Agricultural Lead of the Project.

Once the species rich grasslands have sufficiently established (post 2030), the landowners intend to introduce cattle grazing to the land to naturally maintain and enhance the habitats. This will in time contribute back to food production within the Project.

 

Assessing income potential

Initially, the landowners considered the then-developing Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) policy – a compliance market aimed at developers and fully launched in 2024 – as a potential income stream. TNC commissioned eftec to test the initial market viability for WBP. “Some of those early calculations were just estimates, such as units per hectare and price per unit… but the model looked like it would stack up and that gave us the confidence to go ahead,” says Anderson.

In 2022, the local area was placed within a nutrient neutrality zone – another compliance-based market in England. TNC appointed Ricardo Energy & Environment to analyse levels of local demand, calculate WBP’s potential nutrient credits. This study showed there would be some opportunities, but Anderson comments that much more work has been required to assess WBP’s offering amid the changing policy landscape (see Milestone 3).

As both BNG and nutrient neutrality are linked to local development levels, WBP engaged the Local Planning Authority early on. These discussions indicated a strong enough case for WBP to pursue these nature markets, with enough local development predicted in the next few years.

WBP also engaged Anglian Water, the regional water company, which has a nearby water recycling centre that has faced increased incidences of flooding. Anglian Water commissioned some initial modelling to assess potential nature-based solutions, and started supporting the project based on its potential to deliver these. However, this has presented a less developed revenue stream compared to BNG and nutrient neutrality (see Milestone 4 for more detail).

 

Funding project development

WBP received relatively significant funding and time-in-kind from various organisations in WBP’s development. Anderson says that, as of December 2024, close to £1m in landowner cash contributions, grants, pro-bono, and philanthropic support had gone into the Project.

For example, TNC has been a key partner of WBP (see Milestone 2), providing up to £500k through direct and indirect support. This has covered early baselining and natural capital accounting, nature market research, feasibility studies, legal support and project design and management, with some of this work sub-contracted to Bain & Co.

The project was also a Round 1 Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF) pilot, which contributed £100k to early feasibility planning and legal support.

 

Overall, project development has been resourced through:

  • the landowners’ own time in developing the Project (estimated at 20,000 hours).
  • pro bono work from partner eNGOs on environmental research, planning and modelling,
  • early pro bono work from law firms BCLP and Morrison and Foerster to develop the single legal entity (see Milestone 6)
  • £100,000 from the NEIRF’s first round.
  • grant funding from Natural England’s pilot schemes, including the:
    • BNG statutory credit pilot scheme,
    • Natural England Nature Recovery Programme,
    • Environmental Land Management scheme Test and Trials

While funding and billed services were needed, Anderson says the chief costs have been time-in-kind from the landowners and WBP’s many supportive partners.

 

“It’s expensive and money doesn’t go far, but we do expect costs for projects to decrease significantly over time,” says Anderson. Throughout WBP’s development, the landowners and its project partners have aimed to share its learnings with others, including prospective project developers.

 

A short film outlining the full project plan can be viewed below:

 

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