The government has announced up to £3.2 million for the North York Moors National Park Authority through the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme. According to the official announcement, the funding is intended to restore thousands of hectares of moorland and peatland damaged by the Fylingdales wildfire in summer 2025, while improving protection for nearby communities, homes and critical national infrastructure.
The package is framed as more than site repair. Ministers say restored peatland should help slow the spread of any future fire and reduce flood risk further downstream, placing the work in the category of both environmental recovery and practical risk reduction.
In operational terms, the funding will be used to repair 17 kilometres of firebreaks dug during the emergency response, stabilise damaged slopes, restore peat-forming species including sphagnum moss and reinstate public rights of way across the moor. That matters because the recovery phase now turns on whether the ground can be made safer, wetter and more stable after a prolonged fire event.
The scale of the 2025 incident explains the level of intervention. The government said the Fylingdales wildfire burned for more than six weeks between August and September 2025, reached about 20 square kilometres at its peak and led to road closures because of smoke and emergency access needs. It was also declared a national incident because of its proximity to critical national infrastructure.
The official Fire and Rescue Service report, referenced in the government statement, said the fire began from a campfire and then spread undetected through deep peat. That point is important for policy and recovery planning, because peat fires can continue below the surface, making them harder to detect and harder to extinguish, while causing extensive damage to habitats and ground conditions.
The government's case for peat restoration is set out in practical terms. Rewetted peat naturally retains water, which can make it more difficult for fire to travel quickly across the moor and can also reduce flood risk for places further downstream. The same programme is expected to support wildlife habitats and protect archaeological features, so the funding is intended to serve environmental, heritage and public safety purposes at the same time.
Nature Minister Mary Creagh said the Fylingdales wildfire caused serious and lasting damage to one of England's most valued upland sites, and said the funding would help restore deep peat that stores carbon, supports rare wildlife and protects communities downstream. North York Moors National Park Authority chief executive Tom Hind said the fire showed the growing risk posed by wildfires and described the grant as a significant step in repairing firebreaks, re-establishing peat habitats and improving the area's ability to cope with climate change.
The government also said the grant will sit alongside match funding associated with Anglo American's Woodsmith mine and ICL's Boulby mine, as well as contributions from York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority. In practical terms, that means the Fylingdales response is being handled as a wider recovery programme covering habitat repair, access reinstatement and resilience work, rather than as a narrow clean-up exercise after a single fire.