The government is willing to put £42m into restoring the River Adur from Knepp to Shoreham. Work on 760 hectares could start in spring 2027.
The government has said it is willing to put £42 million into restoring the River Adur, from Knepp down to the estuary at Shoreham. The money would come from Defra’s Landscape Recovery scheme. It is not confirmed yet.
Twenty-seven farms and estates are behind the plan. They want to recover floodplains, wetlands and saltmarsh across 760 hectares of the Adur valley. The Knepp Wildland Foundation, which coordinates the project, announced the offer on 22 October (Adur River Recovery).
Adur District Council is a partner and a landowner. It confirmed the offer on 28 October (Adur & Worthing Councils, PR26-097).
What is planned near Shoreham
The biggest change on the coast would be at Pad Farm. The council owns this land on the western bank of the river, just north of the A27. The plan would turn about 56 hectares of it into new coastal saltmarsh, the council says.
The project’s own release says the land near Shoreham is arable that has become too wet to farm. Saltmarsh is a natural defence against rising water. The Adur estuary is already a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and its mudflats feed wading birds such as oystercatchers, little egrets and lapwings (PR26-097).
Across the whole valley, the plans include:
- re-naturalising more than 25km of river habitat
- removing four major weirs so fish can move up and down the river
- a 900-metre channel to take fish around a structure that blocks their migration
- moving some embankments back to the edge of the floodplain, so roads and homes behind them stay protected
- new woodland and hedgerows to link up habitats
Sea trout swim up the Adur to spawn, and European eels travel the other way. The project says better floodplains would hold more sediment on the land, so less pollution would reach the sea and the restored kelp beds off the Sussex coast.
Why the river needs it
The Adur’s old embankments were built as flood defences. They have deteriorated and in some places already breached, the project says. Farmland behind them now stays waterlogged for months, which costs farmers income and damages habitats.
“The project will mitigate the risk of flooding for those downstream in the face of deteriorating river embankments and the changing climate, while also boosting biodiversity,” said Tristan Price, interim director of the Knepp Wildland Foundation.
Councillor Andy Harvey, Adur’s cabinet member for environment, called it “an exciting opportunity to support nature recovery on a large scale”.
How the money would work
Around half of the government money would pay for capital works, such as moving embankments. Each farmer would have a land management plan and be paid every year for keeping to it. A conservation covenant would protect the land for 30 years. Most of the land is grazed, and grazing would continue.
The project also expects to raise at least £18 million by selling biodiversity units and woodland and saltmarsh carbon credits. That is a modelled figure, not money in hand. With it, the total value would be just over £60 million (Adur River Recovery).
What happens next
The partners now have to agree an implementation agreement with the government. If that is signed, works would run for nine years from spring 2027. Neither release gives a date for the agreement.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes on the ground yet. No work starts before spring 2027, and only if the deal is signed.
- If you walk the Adur at Shoreham, the farmland north of the A27 on the western bank could become saltmarsh over the coming decade.
- If you live near the river, the project says moving the embankments back is meant to keep roads and property protected while the floodplain is reconnected.
- To follow the project, the Adur River Recovery website posts news and events.
We will report on the implementation agreement when either the project or the council announces it.
Sources
- One step closer to realising our vision for river recovery, Adur River Recovery (Knepp Wildland Foundation), 22 October 2026
- Major milestone could see investment secured to support nature along the River Adur, Adur & Worthing Councils, PR26-097, 28 October 2026
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