Slurry Infrastructure Grant – Round two opens in November 2023

Coincidentally or as an example of joined up thinking, our Truro office watched a short film over lunchtime that flagged up the environmental impact of slurry. In the afternoon I received notification of the second round of the slurry infrastructure grant and below are extracts from the GOV.UK blog, outlining some of the details:

Overview of the slurry infrastructure grant

• The grants are for improvements to slurry storage to go beyond legal minimums
• The size of the grant is between £25,000 and £250,000
• Grants are available for those who have slurry stores located in England

Round two of the slurry infrastructure grant

I have previously written an overview of the scheme which was prepared for round one, and this covers various aspects including;

• The process
• Who can apply?
• Practicalities.

You can read the blog here.

Since then, five key changes have been made to the scheme for round two:

1. Pig farms will now be funded for up to eight months storage
2. You can get a grant towards a slurry separator as part of your project to increase storage capacity
3. The scheme can support covering for existing stores that are fit-for-purpose with impermeable covers
4. The scheme has added in the option to build in-situ cast concrete stores as an alternative to circular and panel stores, lagoons and bags
5. The scheme is introducing an option for landlords to underwrite grant funding agreement

In round two, Defra anticipate they will be able to invite many more projects to submit a full application than previously, but may still need to limit the number of full applications to prevent swamping suppliers. If prioritisation is required, money will be targeted to specific geographies (you can view the areas by selecting Slurry Infrastructure Grant – Round 2 (England) on MAGIC). In the South West, there are some areas moderate and above in terms of priority.

Further guidance here.

Slurry infrastructure grant webinar

There is a webinar about the scheme on 9 November 2023. You’ll be able to put your questions to Defra, the Rural Payments Agency and Environment Agency leads during the session. Click here to register to attend.

Next steps

1. Subscribe to the blog
2. Work out how much slurry storage you need using AHDB’s latest version of slurry wizard— October 2023 or later
3. Complete online checker – when grant scheme opens for applications in Nov