New GYR Funding Routes
The Great Yorkshire Rivers team, supported by the Funding Working Group, have been working on various new funding routes to unlock further projects across Yorkshire. The original Core, Urgent and Enabling Funding routes are still available and detailed below as well for completeness. We hope that this array of funding opportunities will support Partners to deliver more at a wider scale.
Core Fund
The original Core Fund is still available, but now with 3 funding windows (February, June and September) each year. This fund can be used for projects both in the Pre-works and Detailed Design & Construction phases. Pre-works funding can be used for feasibility, options appraisal, surveys, outline design and any other pre-works project requirements. The Detailed Design & Construction funding can be used for projects that either don't need Pre-works project elements completing or have already had them completed via different funding routes. The Core Fund can also be used for staff time where it is linked to delivering the Pre-works or Detailed Design and Construction project phases.
Urgent
The Urgent Fund route is a subset of the Core Fund and can be used for the exact same project elements as the Core Fund, but where there is an urgent requirement to start works and not wait for the next funding window to open in February, June or September. We define an urgent project as one with exceptional circumstances. For example, a limited time window may be given by the landowner or due to extenuating circumstances, meaning the project needs to be delivered at pace.
Quick Wins
The Quick Wins fund was recently announced, which is open at all times for partners to utilise. This route is for lower risk, lower complexity projects. Examples of the types of projects that could fit the Quick Wins route are:
There is a landowner on board with removal of a small weir with minimal plant or hand tools
Small notching projects
Small projects on ordinary watercourses where minimal permitting is required
Enabling
The Enabling Fund allows partners to access funding to enable them to deliver projects that meet the GYR vision. Enabling funding can be used to dedicate existing staff, onboard new members of staff or enhance resources to better survey and address barriers across Yorkshire. This funding pot has been successful in ensuring our partners are suitably resourced to then go on to apply for Core Funding.
Flagship
In March 2025, Yorkshire Water agreed a redress package with Ofwat to invest £3.4m into Great Yorkshire Rivers. After considering how this money could be utilised in a meaningful and impactful way, the GYR Strategy Working Group recommended to the Partnership Board that this funding should be used on 1 or a small handful of Flagship Projects. We will be asking partners to provide their proposals for Flagship Projects by 30th October. We have created the below brief definition of what a flagship project should be:
“The Flagship Project should be more than a successful river restoration scheme. It should be a landmark intervention that showcases what can be achieved through partnership working, captures public imagination, attracts significant attention from stakeholders, and establishes Great Yorkshire Rivers as a nationally recognised leader in river reconnection and restoration. We are particularly interested in projects capable of becoming exemplars of best practice, attracting interest from across the UK and internationally, and creating a lasting legacy for people, communities, and the environment.”
GYR Partners can read further information about the various funding routes available via the ‘members areas’.