There has been a real development in the area of volunteering
Lord Lewis of Newnham
Professor Lord Lewis of Newnham made the comments in the House of Lords on April 29 at a reception held to mark the 12th year of funding by the Trust, which distributes money to community projects near landfill sites operated by Veolia. Over 110 guests attended.
At present, landfill site operators can claim a 90% tax credit for money given to support projects. Since April 2010, these have been capped at 5.5% of their landfill tax liability, a reduction on the 6% seen previously.
However, in Budget 2010 the Chancellor stressed that this would still see the fund increase in line with inflation from a maximum value of £72 million in 2009/10 to approximately £74 million in 2010/11, because landfill tax rises each year.
Despite this, Lord Lewis said that, over the last few years there had been a number of attempts to stop the funding and that Veolia had had to lobby quite hard to see it retained – and urged the new government to continue support.
He said: “The Landfill Communities Fund has continued fortunately. One of the things we have to hope for is that the new government continues to support this.”
With much funding from the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) currently tied up in the Olympics, Lord Lewis said that the funding often determined whether projects would succeed of fail, commenting: “It is valuable for projects which otherwise would not be able to continue.”
Report
The event also saw the launch of the Veolia Environmental Trust's 2009 annual report, which highlighted the projects it has supported over the past year – including a revamp of the Cringleford Children's Play Area in London and the redevelopment of Manor Oaks Park in Sheffield.
The money was split almost exactly evenly between the four regions covered Northern, Southern, Midlands and London – which have their own panels to decide applications.
Projects which received most funding included the Black Country Living Museum for reconstruction of its Hall Street and Oldbury Buildings (£132,000) and the Lighthouse Group, for land stabilisation and remediation for the Bradford Centre of Excellence (£150,000). However, most grants ranged from between £25,000 and £49,999 in value.
The Trust also paid tribute to three “flagship” projects which it supported in 2007 and concluded in 2009, which created opportunities for 16-25 year olds to volunteer to protect the environment and learn new skills through the Wildlife Trusts, BTCV and the Woodland Trust – claiming that these were the kind of projects it hoped to support going forward.
Lord Lewis said: “There has been a real development in the area of volunteering. One of the things we are going to do is look at is a new set of programmes within the flagship programme. We are the first of the landfill trusts to have dealt with volunteering in this way.”
Grants
Since it was established in 1997, the Veolia Environmental Trust has supported over 1,020 projects across the UK, pledging over £40 million of grants.
Executive director of the Veolia Environmental Trust, Margaret Cobbold, said: “2009 was certainly a dynamic and interesting year. With a rise in applications and the number of projects supported, it is clear that the Trust and the Landfill Communities Fund make an important contribution to the UK's funding landscape.
“This reception was an excellent opportunity for people with an interest in the business and the Fund and the Trust to find out first-hand from the applicants the achievements of the schemes we supported in 2009.”
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