Volunteers working at Cwm Colhuw nature reserve (funded by Biffa Award)

We urgently need your help to protect a vital source of funding that has supported many of WTSWW’s conservation projects, past and present, on its nature reserves. Many of you will have personally seen the benefits of, or been involved in the projects that this funding has made possible.

Volunteers working at Cwm Colhuw nature reserve (funded by Biffa Award)

The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) supports community and environmental projects in the vicinity of landfill sites. The LCF is a ‘green tax’ which is currently used to encourage more recycling by taxing waste that goes to landfill, and a percentage is used to fund community and wildlife projects within 10 miles of active landfill sites. You may not have heard the name of LCF so often, but it is the important mechanism that allows us to receive funding from sources such as Biffa Award, WREN, SITA Trust and CWM Environmental, all of which have supported our work in the last five years. You can read some examples of our recent projects supported by this fund at the bottom of the page.

Sadly, Welsh Government is considering removing this key funding mechanism for wildlife and community projects. The loss of this funding could severely impair what we are able to deliver for wildlife in our patch.

We’re asking you to help us campaign to keep the Landfill Communities Fund so that we can support wildlife projects in the communities that live with the adverse effects of environmentally damaging activities. We work with local communities to help improve wildlife sites close to landfill, which then become places where people can go to walk and to see wildlife.

If you wish, you can see full details of Welsh Government’s Landfill Tax consultation here. The consultation is open until 19 May 2015. For guidance on how to respond (including a template letter, if you are short of time) please see the ‘take action’ link at the bottom of this page

Welsh Government is considering using this tax for its internal budget rather than funding wildlife and community projects. This would mean that we – and other environmental organisations – could lose this valuable funding altogether. It’s up to us to let them know how important these funds are to protecting our wildlife and supporting our local communities and volunteers to get involved.

• Take action to save funding for wildlife from the LCF
  Please help. You can make a significant contribution to our effort to save this fund for wildlife and conservation by submitting a response to the Welsh Government consultation by 19 May 2015. The more voices speaking in favour of continuing to use these funds to support the voluntary sector and wildlife projects, the stronger our case. Welsh ...
• Case Study 01: Carmel, Carms (CWM Environmental & GrantScape)
  In 2012, The Grasslands Trust sadly went into liquidation, putting the future of their amazing Carmel National Nature Reserve into jeopardy. However, the then Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) quickly stepped in, and with substantial funding from GrantScape and CWM Environmental Ltd (who had previously funded much conservation work on the site through the Grasslands Trust), ...
• Case Study 02: Parc Slip Nature Reserve, Bridgend (SITA Trust)
  In 2014, WTSWW received a Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) grant of £26,060 from SITA Trust to manage and create habitats for our breeding Lapwing population at Parc Slip Nature Reserve. The Lapwing is an iconic farmland bird which has undergone drastic declines across the UK as a result of loss of breeding habitat. Today the ...
• Case Study 03: Cwm Colhuw, Llantwit Major (Biffa Award)
  In 2012, WTSWW received a Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) grant to help restore the Cwm Colhuw Nature Reserve for people and wildlife. The project has enabled WTSWW to create a long-term management plan for the nature reserve and implement the management to improve the condition of the calcareous grassland, coastal scrub and woodland habitats. The ...