Community Pavilion
Press Release
12th August 2008
Norfolk Rural Community Boosted by Biffaward
Residents of Freethorpe and the surrounding rural community are celebrating a £50,000 grant from Biffaward a multi-million pound environmental fund managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts which uses landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services.
The funding will enable the construction of a new community pavilion. The facility will be used by the whole community aged from 8 to 80. Sporting clubs and community groups will be reinvigorated by the opportunities created by the construction of the pavilion.
The Biffaward grant will fund the community room within the pavilion which will serve as a meeting room, bowls viewing lounge and a clubhouse for after sporting events hospitality.
The Biffaward grant includes a £5,000 contribution from Broadland District Council who also contributed a further £15,000 to the total project cost. Under government regulations only 90% of project costs can be provided by landfill tax.
Gillian French, Programme Manger Biffaward said “Communities need places to meet and it is great news that some local clubs and groups have already expressed an interest in using the community pavilion. Biffaward is pleased to support such worthwhile projects which make a big difference in their community”.
Stephen Smith Vice Chairman of Freethorpe Village Hall and Project Manager said “The community pavilion will become the focal point of the local rural community with community groups and sporting clubs benefiting from this great new facility. Freethorpe Village Hall would like to thank Biffaward for making this ambitious £328,026 target possible by providing the crucial partnership funding to support grants made by the FA, Football Foundation and Broadland District Council. Without the Biffaward grant the project would not have been possible”.
Biffa provides a range of public sector, commercial and industrial waste collection services as well as the management of 33 operational landfill sites across the UK. The multi-million pound a year Biffaward fund has been set up, using tax charged on waste taken to landfill sites to help finance environmental projects near Biffa sites.
ENDS
Contact details and editors notes follow…
For more information, contact Stephen Smith.
Tel 01493 700909
Mob 07863 361323
Email mrstephenwsmith@talktalk.net
For more information, on Biffaward contact PR Team on 01636 670083 or e-mail media@rswt.org.
EDITOR’S NOTES
1. In 1997 Biffa Waste Services agreed to donate landfill tax credits to the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT) to administer under the fund name Biffaward. Grants made from the fund currently amount to more than £90 million, supporting many worthwhile projects.
Biffa Waste Services Ltd is a part of Biffa Plc Group. Biffa Plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE250 index. Biffa Plc is one of the largest single suppliers of waste management services in the UK. It collects, treats, recovers and disposes of municipal, commercial and industrial waste nationwide.
The landfill tax came into operation in 1996. Its purpose is to reflect the impact of landfill on the environment and also to help achieve the targets for more sustainable waste management. The tax, levied on the tonnage of all material disposed of in landfill sites and collected by Biffa on behalf of HM Revenue and Customs, aims to encourage recycling and reduce waste by raising the cost of disposal.
The regulations allow landfill site operators to direct up to 6.6 per cent of the tax they have collected towards approved environmental projects. However, any approved project can only receive 90 per cent of its desired funding from the landfill tax. The remainder must come direct from the landfill site operator or from a third party organisation or company.
A big thanks to Biffaward for making it all possible.