Tees BNG Scheme

‍In 2025, we acquired our first site: Westwick, just under 25 hectares near Barnard Castle in County Durham. 

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Westwick was previously intensively sheep-grazed grassland: a tight, low-diversity sward of ryegrass and common bent, not much else. But the ground itself was hilly, rising and falling around a wetland feature at its centre that grazing alone couldn't touch. That gave us something to build on. 

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We're creating seven hectares of lowland meadow, nine hectares of other neutral grassland, four hectares of mixed scrub and five hectares of floodplain wetland mosaic, tied together with over half a kilometre of new native hedgerow. The site's veteran trees and existing hedgerows stay exactly where they are. 

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Westwick sits seven kilometres from the North Pennine Moors Special Protection Area, designated for hen harrier, merlin, peregrine and golden plover. Lapwing and oystercatcher were already recorded foraging on site during our baseline survey, and the wetland and bare ground scrapes we're creating are designed for these and other ground-nesting birds. 

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Westwick is also a Nutrient Neutrality scheme. Ending conventional grazing and fertiliser use will keep around 290kg of nitrogen a year out of the Teesmouth Habitats Sites, generating credits for developments across the wider Tees catchment. 

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We've secured Westwick's management for the long term with a Conservation Covenant, partnering with RSK Biocensus as Responsible Body. The long-term aim is to gift Westwick to a conservation charity, with an endowment to fund its management for good.