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Countryside Stewardship hedge grants for Gravesham farmland: what the scheme requires before you plant

Farmers and landowners in the Gravesham villages can claim government grant support for planting new hedges and filling gaps in existing ones through the Countryside Stewardship Capital Grants scheme. The grants come with specific eligibility rules, a required species mix, and a planting specification that must be followed before any work starts. This guide sets out what those rules require, the nesting-season constraint that applies to any ground clearance beforehand, and the step-by-step application process through the Rural Payments Agency.

What the Countryside Stewardship scheme requires

Countryside Stewardship is a DEFRA scheme administered in England by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) under the Agriculture Act 2020. The Capital Grants tier is the open-access entry point: applications can be submitted at any time (subject to available budget), with no need to hold a full mid-tier or higher-tier CS agreement. The scheme is aimed at farmers and land managers on agricultural land in England.

Three grant codes relate directly to hedgerows under Capital Grants:

• BN7 (Hedgerow gapping-up): fills gaps up to 20 metres long in an existing hedge. Payment is per metre of hedge length, not per side of the boundary. The published Capital Grants 2025 schedule listed this at £17.22 per metre; confirm the current rate on the GOV.UK Countryside Stewardship grants pages before applying.
• BN11 (Planting new hedges): covers entirely new hedge lines or gaps longer than 20 metres in existing hedges. Payment is also per metre of total hedge length. The published Capital Grants 2025 schedule listed this at £22.97 per metre; confirm the current rate on GOV.UK before applying.
• BE3 (Management of hedgerows): an annual management payment for maintaining existing hedgerows, available under mid-tier and higher-tier CS agreements rather than Capital Grants. A separate application window and agreement apply; this guide focuses primarily on the Capital Grants route for new planting and gapping-up.

The eligibility rules for BN7 and BN11

Before applying, the land and the proposed hedge must meet all of the following conditions set out in the Capital Grants guidance:

• Land eligibility: the land parcel must be registered on the Rural Land Register and shown as eligible on your holding in the Rural Payments service. Most agricultural field parcels in the Gravesham villages (Higham, Chalk, Shorne, Cobham, Meopham) will qualify, but check your specific parcel map before proceeding.
• Both sides of the boundary: the applicant must manage both sides of the hedgerow being gapped or planted. This rules out BN7 and BN11 claims for a hedge line where one side is managed by a different landowner, unless there is a separate agreement in place.
• 80% native shrubs: at least 80% of the plants used must be native shrub species. For Gravesham clay soils, hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), field maple (Acer campestre), hazel (Corylus avellana), dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) and spindle (Euonymus europaeus) all qualify. Leylandii, cherry laurel and other non-native species do not count toward the 80% threshold and would make a claim ineligible if they pushed native content below that level.
• Minimum hedge length: the hedge (or the gap being filled) must be at least 20 metres long to qualify. For BN7 (gapping-up), gaps up to 20 metres are eligible; gaps of more than 20 metres require BN11 instead.
• Plant specification: the Capital Grants guidance requires 2-year-old native transplants, typically 450–600mm tall at time of planting. Larger, container-grown stock does not meet the specification and is not claimable.
• Protection fencing for BN11: for a new hedge under BN11, a stock-proof fence along both sides must be installed and maintained for the first five years after planting. The fence protects the transplants while they establish and forms part of the claim conditions. There is a separate capital item for the fencing itself (check the current Capital Grants guidance for the relevant code and rate).
• Records: receipts for plants and materials, photographs of the completed planting, and details of the work carried out must be kept for seven years after the agreement or grant period ends. The RPA can request these as part of a compliance check.

The nesting-season constraint on site clearance

Before any hedge planting under BN7 or BN11 can begin, the hedge line typically needs to be cleared of rank grass, scrub or old debris. That clearance is itself subject to wildlife law, quite separately from the Countryside Stewardship conditions.

Applying for a Capital Grant: the sequence

The application process runs through the Rural Payments service at ruralpayments.service.gov.uk. The steps below describe the Capital Grants route for BN7 and BN11; the BE3 mid-tier route has a different application window and process.

1. Check your land parcels on the Rural Payments service. Log in to ruralpayments.service.gov.uk and view your holding's eligible land parcels. Confirm that the field boundary you want to plant or gap-up appears as an eligible parcel edge. If the parcel boundary mapping does not match the actual hedge line on the ground, submit a request to update the Rural Land Register before applying.
2. Identify the correct grant code. Measure the hedge length (or the gap length) to establish whether BN7 (gaps up to 20 metres) or BN11 (new hedge or gaps over 20 metres) applies. A job that involves both types of work on the same boundary can include both items in a single application.
3. Check for protected species. Before the work is confirmed, carry out a field check for nesting birds (or commission an ecologist if there is dense scrub or existing woody growth along the line), and consider whether the boundary runs alongside a ditch, pond or rough grassland that could support great crested newts, dormice or other protected species. The CS scheme does not carry out protected species checks on your behalf.
4. Source the plant material. Obtain quotes from a native hedge plant nursery, confirming that the species mix meets the 80% native shrub requirement and that the stock will be 2-year-old transplants in the 450–600mm size range. Bare-root stock is cheaper, appropriate for the planting season and consistent with the Capital Grants specification; pot-grown stock from garden centres is typically not.
5. Submit the Capital Grants application. Apply through the Rural Payments service, specifying the grant codes (BN7 and/or BN11), the measured length, the parcel references and the proposed planting date. Do not start work before the application is approved; undertaking work and then applying retrospectively is not permitted under the Capital Grants rules.
6. Carry out the work after approval is confirmed. Plant to the specification in the approval letter. Install protection fencing for BN11 items before the first growing season if livestock are present. Photograph the completed work, retain all invoices and delivery notes.
7. Submit the payment claim. Once the work is complete, submit a claim through the Rural Payments service with supporting evidence. The RPA may arrange a field visit to verify the planting before releasing payment.

Where this applies in Gravesham

Capital Grants eligibility covers agricultural land, not domestic gardens or urban parcels. In practice, that means the relevant land for BN7 and BN11 claims in the Gravesham area is concentrated in the rural southern and eastern villages: Higham, Chalk, Shorne, Cobham and Meopham, and the farmland running along the foot of the North Downs scarp between the A2 corridor and the borough boundary.

The heavy London clay soils that dominate most of Gravesham call for proven, clay-tolerant species: hawthorn and blackthorn are the workhorses for a BN7 or BN11 claim here, with field maple as a valuable addition for autumn colour and insect value. Both establish well on wet, compacted clay provided drainage is not severely impeded, and both comfortably satisfy the 80% native shrub requirement. Hazel can be used but is slightly less tolerant of the most waterlogged winter conditions found in low-lying fields near Higham Marshes.

For a new hedge under BN11, the North Downs farmland corridor also offers the chalk-influenced, better-drained soils in the far south of the borough (parts of Cobham and the Shorne ridge), where spindle and dogwood perform better and add species diversity to the planted mix. That said, the clay-tolerant mix of hawthorn, blackthorn and field maple works across all of the eligible Gravesham farmland without the species-selection risk of less tolerant shrubs on the heavier ground.

A note on overlap with biodiversity net gain: any planning permission that affected a hedgerow in Gravesham from November 2023 onwards is subject to the 10 percent biodiversity net gain requirement under the Environment Act 2021. A Countryside Stewardship-funded hedge planted under BN11 can in principle contribute to a biodiversity gain plan, but the overlap between CS grant conditions and planning obligations needs to be confirmed with Gravesham Borough Council's planning department before the work starts, since double-counting restrictions may apply.

Sources: Agriculture Act 2020; Countryside Stewardship Capital Grants 2025 scheme guidance (GOV.UK); BN7: Hedgerow gapping-up (gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/hedgerow-gapping-up-bn7); BN11: Planting new hedges (gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/planting-new-hedges-bn11); BE3: Management of hedgerows (gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/management-of-hedgerows-be3); Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1; Environment Act 2021, schedule 14 (biodiversity net gain).