CUP18: Manage features for wildfire management (fire and fuel breaks) supplement
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-10)

What you must do to get paid for this CSHT action and advice on how to do it.

This action is part of Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT). You must read the CSHT guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/countryside-stewardship-higher-tier-csht) before you apply.

Duration

10 years

How much you’ll be paid

£137 per hectare (ha) per year

Action’s aim

The aim of this supplemental action is to maintain firebreaks or fuel breaks to create a gap in vegetation or combustible material to help slow or stop the progress of wildfire.

The purpose of this is to provide a strategic break in habitats to suppress wildfire.

Firebreaks are generally mown linear gaps in vegetation or other combustible material that reduce the spread of surface fires.

Fuel breaks are scraped gaps in vegetation where litter and organic materials are removed to expose mineral soils.

This supplemental action will only pay for maintenance of man-made (not natural) firebreaks or fuel breaks.

Where you can do this action

You can only do this supplemental action on eligible land with any the following Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier base actions:
- CWD2: Woodland improvement
- CLH1: Manage lowland heathland
- CLH2: Restore lowland heathland
- CLH3: Create lowland heathland
You can only do this action on:
- woodland that has a Forestry Commission approved woodland management plan
- lowland heathland that has a heathland management plan agreed with Natural England
- a site of special scientific interest (SSSI), special area of conservation (SAC) or special protection area (SPA) that has an existing consent or assent from Natural England
Your Natural England or Forestry Commission adviser will agree with you what other supplemental actions may be needed to meet the intended environmental outcomes. This could include:
- CSP1: Difficult site supplement
- CSP18: Keep native breeds on extensively managed habitats supplement (50-80%)
- CSP19: Keep native breeds on extensively managed habitats supplement (more than 80%)
- CSP3: Bracken control supplement
- CSP5: Shepherding supplement (non-moorland)
- CSP6: Cattle grazing supplement (non-moorland)
- CSP7: Introduction of cattle grazing on the Isles of Scilly supplement
- CSP9: Support for threatened species
- CWS2: Manage and restore plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS) supplement
- CWS5: Improve woodland resilience supplement
- CWS8: Manage native woodland including ancient semi-natural woodlands (ASNW) supplement
- CWS9: Manage woodlands for flood and drought mitigation supplement
You cannot do this supplemental action:
- on peat soils more than 10 centimetres (cm) in depth
- on areas where there’s water flow through surface soils for fuel breaks
- within 6 metres (m) of a historic or archaeological feature identified in your Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (HEFER)
- where it will damage peat exposures or other sensitive soils
Eligible land

Same as base action.

Available area you can enter into this action

Same or less than the base action.

Rotational or static action

Same as base action.

What to do

Your Natural England adviser or Forestry Commission woodland officer will assess your land. They’ll work with you to adapt and agree the activities you must do to achieve this action’s aim. All mandatory activities will be set out in your agreement document.

To get paid for this action, you must:
- maintain firebreaks or fuel breaks annually
- for firebreaks, keep the vegetation height low each year – you’ll agree the vegetation height and area of the firebreak with your Natural England adviser or Forestry Commission woodland officer
- for fuel breaks, scrape down to mineral soil each year as specified in your agreement
When to do it

You’ll need to carry out the management activities at the frequency agreed by your Natural England adviser or Forestry Commission woodland officer for the duration of the action.

Evidence to keep

You must keep evidence to show what you have done to complete this action. If it’s not clear that you have done this action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve its aim, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) may ask for this evidence.

You must supply the evidence if they ask for it, including:
- receipted invoices, consents or permissions connected with the work
- records of all management activity including photographs
Consents, permissions and licensing requirements

To apply for this action, you’ll need:
- consent from Natural England for any activity on land designated as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/protected-areas-sites-of-special-scientific-interest#get-consent-to-carry-out-operations-on-your-land)
- a Forestry Commission approved woodland management plan (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/create-a-woodland-management-plan), which may include a felling licence (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tree-felling-licence-when-you-need-to-apply)
- a Natural England approved heathland management plan
- Scheduled Monument Consent (https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/planning/consents/smc/) from Historic England for any work on scheduled monuments
You may need to:
- get a wildlife licence (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wildlife-licences) from Natural England if your activities affect a protected species or their habitat
- get advice from your Natural England adviser if you have other archaeological or historic features on your agreement land
All archaeological and historic features (including scheduled monuments) are identified in your Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (HEFER).

If you’re a tenant, it’s your responsibility to check whether your tenancy agreement allows you to complete what’s required in the actions you choose. You may need your landlord’s consent.

Defra and its delivery bodies, including Natural England and the Forestry Commission, exempt itself of any and all liability in the event of wildfire. Wildfires are necessarily unpredictable events and Defra and its delivery bodies aim to minimise the likelihood of them occurring (or the damage of the same if such an event occurs) but do not and cannot exclude the possibility of a wildfire taking place. The condition of your land and its susceptibility to the risk of wildfire is a matter for which you as a farmer or landowner are solely responsible and liable.

For the avoidance of doubt, Defra and its delivery bodies shall not be liable for any consequential, indirect or special loss nor for any of the following (whether direct or indirect): loss of property, loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of data, damage to profit, loss of use, loss of production, loss of contract, loss of commercial opportunity, loss of business, harm to reputation, or loss of goodwill and/or wasted expenditure.

Capital grants to support this action

If you need to complete an implementation plan or a feasibility study before you apply, you can apply for capital grants plans funding (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/capital-items-guidance-for-applicants-and-agreement-holders#capital-grants-plans).

You can also apply for capital items (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/capital-items-guidance-for-applicants-and-agreement-holders) to help you achieve the action’s aims. Your Natural England adviser will discuss eligible capital items with you.

Advice to help you do this action

The following optional advice may help you to do this action. Your agreement document will set out all the activities you must do.

Maintenance of fire and fuel break must meet the specifications agreed in your consented operation.

Using fire and fuel breaks

When fire and fuel breaks are used as part of a connected network of breaks, they can help with fire suppression or reduce the rate of spread. Management of vegetation next to the breaks is also important.

Fire and fuel breaks can reduce fire intensity when positioned at critical points that:
- break the continuity of fuel loading (vegetation)
- are connected to other fire and fuel breaks as part of a network to ensure wildfires cannot escape
- take advantage of physical features to improve their effectiveness (for example, at the bottom or below a ridge line of a slope)
They can also be around or next to features or assets that you wish to protect.

Maintaining fire and fuel breaks

Avoid cutting and scraping to maintain the fire or fuel breaks in the bird or reptile breeding season. This is between 1 March and 31 July. Fire and fuel breaks can be used for access during a wildfire incident or other emergency.

Where vehicle tracks or footpaths are used as part of your wildfire planning, this supplement can only pay for fuel loading (vegetation) management next to the formal track, road or path. For example, the cutting of fire breaks next to roads which also act as fuel breaks.

Managing the wider habitat

Consider fire and fuel breaks when managing the wider habitat, such as:
- restoring and protecting the hydrology of peatland and other wetlands
- protecting peatland and organic soils from disturbance
- avoiding soil erosion and increased flood risk
- managing access – consider how the use of fire and fuel breaks will influence access across the site, for example it could cause disturbance in areas that people would not otherwise visit