CSW12: Make room for the river to move
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

20 years

How much you’ll be paid

£1,489 per hectare (ha) per year

Action’s aim

This action’s aim is to:
- restore and create new and dynamic areas of river and wet floodplain habitats – these areas will move over time due to the river itself moving
- let water seasonally flood from and drain back into the river
- reduce the risk of soil erosion and downstream flooding
This will include:
- new areas of river and wetland habitats appearing, such as new channels, temporary ponds in old channels and wet grassland
- gradual erosion and movement of the riverbed and riverbanks
- deposits of gravel, sand and silt in the river channel and on the floodplain after a flood
The purpose is to allow rivers to flow naturally across the floodplain to deliver benefits for biodiversity, flood and drought management and climate adaptation.

Where you can do this action

You can do this action on eligible:
- land that fast-flowing rivers are likely to move into, or can be restored to move into during the agreement – river movement can be the result of bank erosion or channel switching
- land restored to create multiple branching river channels occupying most or all of the floodplain, and with permanently high groundwater levels (also known as ‘Stage Zero’ river restoration)
You can only do this action if you have a river restoration plan agreed with Natural England.

Eligible land

You can do this action on land that’s:
- an eligible land type
- registered with an eligible land cover on your digital maps
- declared with a land use code (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/land-use-codes-rural-payments) which is compatible with the eligible land cover
Available area you can enter into this action

Total or part of the available area in the land parcel.

Rotational or static action

This action is static. This means you must do it at the same location each year of this action’s duration.

What to do

Your Natural England adviser 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:
- prepare the land to receive additional floodwater from the watercourse next to it and allow the river and water to move freely in the floodplain
- remove or disable any artificial land drainage, such as drains and pipes – you must agree all drainage works (including modification to existing drainage) in writing with Natural England before carrying out any activities
- establish permanent vegetation cover (as set out in the river restoration plan)
- only plough, cultivate or re-seed as part of an agreed sward enhancement programme
- remove non-biodegradable flood debris
- control invasive non-native species
- only allow vehicle access on agreed routes
The advice you’re given from Natural England is specific to your land which means (where relevant) you may also need to:
- keep an open sward by light grazing or cutting in parts of the agreement area
- retain trees and scrub, or allow them to establish, in parts of the agreement area
- retain standing or fallen deadwood, unless it’s a flood risk to people and property
- remove cut non-woody material
- remove soil compaction
- keep a monthly record of stock numbers
You must not:
- fill in hollows or wet features
- use supplementary feed for grazing livestock
- remove or control sediments in rivers or floodplains, unless agreed
- carry out any earthworks on riverbeds or banks, flood defences, bank protection or drainage works, unless agreed
- apply fertilisers, manures or lime
- apply pesticides – you may be able to use herbicides to spot-treat or weed-wipe for the control of injurious weeds, invasive non-native plant species, nettles or other plants if this has been agreed with your Natural England adviser
When to do it

You must carry out the management activities for the duration of your agreement. You must complete enabling capital works by the end of the third year of your agreement.

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:
- field operations at a parcel level
- associated invoices
- photographs relevant to the action
Other actions or options you can do on the same area as this action

You can do the following actions or options on the same area in a land parcel as this action.

Some actions or options can only be done on the same area if they’re done at a different time of year to this action.

You can do the following actions or options on the eligible boundaries of a land parcel entered into this action:
- CSHT actions: CWT3, CHRW4
- SFI 2024 actions: CHRW1, CHRW2, CHRW3, BND1, BND2, WBD10
- SFI 2023 actions: HRW1, HRW2, HRW3
- CS option BE3 (management of hedgerows)
Consents, permissions and licensing requirements

To apply for this action, you’ll need:
- an agreed river restoration plan with your Natural England adviser
- Scheduled Monument Consent (https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/planning/consents/smc/) from Historic England for any work on scheduled monuments
- 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)
- to obtain any necessary consents from the Environment Agency, Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) or Internal Drainage Board (IDB) before starting any work
You may also need to get:
- advice from your Natural England adviser if you have other archaeological or historic features on your agreement land
- a wildlife licence (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wildlife-licences) from Natural England if your activities affect a protected species or their habitat
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.

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.

Choosing a site

In most cases you will need professional advice to choose the right location for this action.

Try to choose a site that connects to wider river and floodplain habitats and links to habitats in the wider catchment.

The presence of beavers may help to create the necessary conditions.

Use this action to create or restore multiple branching channels across the valley floor. It will work best for land that has ‘low to moderate’ soil fertility with extractable phosphate levels in the range 5 to 30 milligrams per litre (mg/l).

You may need to work with neighbouring farms to manage land within the hydrological unit. This means all land on a floodplain where the river naturally flows and floods.

You may also need to work with neighbouring farms to manage wider land within the area where the river channels are expected to move across the floodplain.

Planning

If your site requires restoration works you will need to plan for all the engineering works needed to restore the river and floodplain, such as removing flood banks and varying the field surface topography, as well as in-channel habitat works. You can also place large woody material in the river and across the floodplain.

You can apply for a PA1: Implementation plan (https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/implementation-plan-pa1) or PA2: Feasibility study (https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/feasibility-study-pa2) to fund your river restoration and management plans. You can also use a plan which is not funded by PA1 or PA2 if it includes all the information needed.

You may need new routes or bridges to access and maintain the site. It is important that these do not affect future river movement or temporary flooding.

Identify escape routes and refuge areas for people or livestock to use during floods.

Establishing river and floodplain habitats

Your river restoration or management plan will set out what you need to do to establish river and floodplain habitats. This may include the need to reduce soil nutrient levels and remove soil compaction.

Leave sand, gravel and boulders deposited by the river on the floodplain. Changes to the form of the river and floodplain may occur gradually over time or suddenly during individual flood events. In restored rivers, change may be more pronounced early on in the agreement.

You may need to establish vegetation cover by sowing native species on areas of bare soil to minimise soil erosion and pollution risk.

You can encourage trees and scrub to establish by natural regeneration or planting a mixture of native species. These can include alder and willow species.

Managing your site

Your management plan will set out what you need to do to manage river and floodplain habitats. You may need to adapt how you manage your site during the agreement as changes to the form of the river and floodplain occur over time.

Injurious weeds, nettles or invasive non-native species may need to be controlled more often over the first few years to help prevent their establishment.

Veterinary medicines such as ivermectin wormers, and livestock insecticides (especially pyrethroids) can have a negative impact on both land and freshwater ecosystems. If you’re a livestock farmer, work with your vet to see if you can agree a way to reduce the impact without affecting the animal’s welfare.

Where not to use this action

This action is not suitable for stable rivers that won’t actively move beyond their existing channel or where the rivers modifications cannot be easily removed.

Avoid locations with insufficient flow and a lack of coarse sediment supply as the river will not have enough flow or material to move across the floodplain and create new habitat and channels.

When using this action to restore rivers with multiple branching channels (stage zero), avoid locations where there is a deep layer of fine floodplain sediment. This is because excavating to expose the gravels would be difficult to do. Gravels form the bed of the river and provide a habitat for fish and invertebrates.

High fine sediment inputs from the catchment will restrict the development of multiple channels.

Responding to climate change

Read Natural England’s publication: ‘Adaptation for habitats in Environmental Land Management Schemes’ (https://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/file/5673659512127488) to help you consider your general response to climate change. You must continue to follow the mandatory activities for this HT action.