National River Walks
Funding
Up to £1,350,000
Location
England
Applications
Open until 27 August 2026
Defra is funding new National River Walks across England. The programme aims to deliver 9 river walks in total, one in each English region. One walk in the North West is already complete, so applications from that region are not accepted. This round will fund 4 more walks, each worth up to £1,350,000. Successful projects must be completed by 31 March 2028. A second competition will fund the remaining 4 walks later.
Key requirements:
- Project must be completed by 31 March 2028
- Applications from the North West region are not accepted
- One river walk per region
This grant is for organisations in England, outside the North West, that can deliver a new river walk in their region. Applications are welcome from 8 remaining English regions. The source does not specify eligible organisation types, so contact Defra directly to confirm if you qualify.
Regions
Awards published
53,000
Typical award
£11,250
Most awards
£2,895 to £35,000
Most funded region
South West
363 awards in 2025, down from 14,963 the year before.
Recent awards include KIMO UK (£35,745, 2025), Fruits of the Sea Ltd (£74,045, 2025) and Forest of Avon Trust (£25,000, 2025).
This funder has made 53,000 awards with a typical award of £11,250. Would you qualify?
See if you'd qualifyContains data from 360Giving publishers, used under open licence.
Full details from Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
***NECESSARY ACTION: SEE SUPPORTING INFORMATION TAB FOR SPECIFIC DETAILS*** Defra is looking to award grants via the National River Walks Programme to address the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 commitment to deliver 9 new national river walks, one in each region of England. One river walk has already been delivered in the North West region. We now welcome applications from the remaining 8 regions of England to deliver the next river walks. We are not looking for further applications from the North West. We aim to select 4 river walks to be delivered by 31st March 2028. A further competition to fund the remaining 4 walks will be arranged in the future.
Apply through Defra's grant process before the 27 August 2026 deadline. The source does not specify a portal or detailed application steps.
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Create free accountLast updated: 16 August 2026