A £1.7 million fund has been launched for groups of farmers and organisations to bid for cash for large scale environmental projects in their area.

The third national round of the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund, open for applications until November 14, encourages landowners to think beyond their own fields, meadows and woodlands and instead consider how environmental benefits can be achieved over a wider landscape by working on projects together.

To apply, groups must submit new plans for working together and sharing knowledge to improve their land and benefit their communities.

Farming Minister George Eustice said: “The benefits of action to develop habitats and protect the environment can be magnified if applied on a landscape scale with groups of farmers working together. This facilitation fund will support partnership working to maximise the benefits of our Countryside Stewardship schemes to our farmed environment.”

Since the Countryside Stewardship scheme began, it has supported 61 groups and 1,350 land managers to improve more than 273,000 hectares of land through enhancing wildlife habitats, planting trees and restoring rivers to their natural meanders.

A group already benefitting from funding is the Bourn Brook Facilitation Fund which joined the scheme in 2015. Since then, 20 farms covering more than 6,500 hectares have worked together to connect local ancient woodland, improve river quality and encourage other farmers to get involved in the environmental work.