Causeway Coast and Glens Council accepts landfill fund changes

At a Leisure and Development Committee meeting on Tuesday, April 16, Officers asked members to review the policy, which was agreed by the council in 2016 and “sets out a framework for the processing of Landfill Communities Fund applications”.

The LFC means the council can claim a 5.3 percent credit against their landfill tax liability. The council then make this contribution to an environmental body, currently the Ulster Wildlife Trust, who administer the fund on council’s behalf.

“The Ulster Wildlife Trust are the Environmental Body that administer the fund,” an officer said, ”and the LCF Policy is reviewed annually by council. The expected value of the fund for 2024/25 is in the region of £120,000 net of fees.”

A desktop review of the policy, carried out by council’s Funding Unit, recommended one change to the policy; that organisations cannot apply for multiple awards in any given financial year and prior projects must be fully complete before an organisation can make further applications to the fund.

UUP Councillor Richard Holmes asked if an organisation would not be able to apply for new award because a current project had been paused due to “something that was out of their control”.

He added: “Perhaps if a project is 80 or 90 percent completed, then that stops them from applying. It could us into a bit of bother with this.” An officer said council made the LCF a rolling fund last year, so organisations can apply for projects “at any time throughout the year”.

The officer added: “What we’re proposing is that they finish one project before they apply for funding for another, because what we’ve found is that they’ll apply for a couple at a time.

“The council’s own grant policy allows one fund in any given year, so it’s bringing it into line with the council’s own policy.

“But it’s not prohibitive because as soon as they finish one project they can make applications for the other and, because it’s a rolling fund, it will be made at whatever point they’re in a state of readiness.”