Peatland Restoration

Lord Bishop of Norwich Excerpts

Thursday 12th March 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[The Lord Bishop of Norwich]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of peatland restoration for flood resilience and nature recovery.

[Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Katz) (Lab)]

My Lords, peatland restoration provides multiple benefits. It improves flood resilience by slowing water leaving the uplands and significantly reducing peak flows. Peatlands make up the UK’s largest extent of semi-natural habitat, so action to restore them makes an important contribution to delivering biodiversity targets. In the environmental improvement plan, this Government committed to restoring 40,000 hectares of peatland by 2030. To help to achieve this, we will extend our peatland grant scheme by a further year.

[The Lord Bishop of Norwich]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his reply. My understanding is that so far we have restored a quarter of a million hectares, against a target of 2 million hectares by 2040. That is only 10%. As the noble Lord says, it is crucial that we do this, to keep water higher up in the catchment area for biodiversity and for carbon storage. What plan do the Government have to enable degraded peatlands to be restored? Will that plan be produced in conjunction with the devolved powers? How are the Government proposing to engage with people in communities that regularly use peatland for farming and other purposes? I declare an interest because my forebear Bishops of Norwich largely controlled the digging of peat that created the Norfolk Broads.

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I thank the right reverend Prelate for his questions and for claiming that inherited responsibility. He is absolutely right about the importance of peatlands. They have been referred to as the UK’s rainforest. They store vast amounts of carbon, regulate water flow and support biodiversity. Restoration is currently funded through the national peatland grant scheme, which we have extended for an additional year, as I said. Following this, restoration will primarily be supported through environmental land management schemes such as Landscape Recovery and Countryside Stewardship, which are expected to bring at least 35,000 hectares of peatland into restoration by 2050. We expect that to happen under the most recent round of the Landscape Recovery scheme.

The Government regularly speak to a wide range of stakeholders including those involved in peatland restoration, such as wildlife trusts, national parks, the horticultural sector, landowners and farmers, as well as our partners in local, regional and other national Governments. By 2030, we will invest £85 million to restore and manage our peatlands, which will include support for water infrastructure, peatland restoration and the trials of farming on higher water tables.