The dilapidated children’s play area at Heol Nant, Swiss Valley, is to be given a new lease of life by Llanelli Rural Council.
The Rural Council has been in discussion with Carmarthenshire County Council for over a year under the Asset Transfer Programme to secure a lease for the play area to enable a regeneration scheme to be carried out. The formality of a lease was an essential criterion for funders to release grants awarded for the project.
The total budget for the scheme is £80,960 which has been aided with grants of £35,960 from The Veolia Environmental Trust and £15,000 by Cwm Environmental. Both grants have been awarded through the Landfill Communities Fund. This enables waste companies to use a portion of their Landfill Tax bill to support community and environmental projects in the areas where they operate.
A community consultation event was held at Swiss Valley Community Hall last month to garner the views of local residents and children on the equipment they would like to be provided at the play area. A further community consultation event will be held at the community hall on Friday, 27 March, 2015, from 5.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. when three companies will exhibit their designs for the new play area and attendees will be encouraged to select their preferred scheme. The information will be fed back to the Rural Council’s Recreation and Welfare Committee to be held on 21 April, 2015, together with the quotations received from the companies involved.
Council Leader, Cllr. Carol Rees said “the Rural Council is absolutely delighted that plans are well and truly underway for the regeneration of the play area at Swiss Valley and is grateful for the support of The Veolia Environmental Trust and Cwm Environmental. All going to plan, the children of Swiss Valley area will have a new modern play area by the school summer holidays.”
( ENDS)
For further information, please contact:
Llanelli Rural Council Deputy Clerk (Administration), Mrs Wendy Evans on 01554 774103
16 March, 2015.
Editors’ notes
The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) is an innovative tax credit scheme enabling Landfill Operators (LOs) to contribute money to organisations enrolled with ENTRUST as Environmental Bodies (EBs). EBs use this funding for a wide range of community and environmental projects in the vicinity of landfill sites. LOs are able to claim a credit (currently 5.1%) against their landfill tax liability for 90% of the contributions they make.
Since its inception in 1996, over £1.3bn billion has been spent on more than 51,000 projects across the UK. For further information, please visit www.entrust.org.uk or see HMRC’s general guide to Landfill Tax.
The Veolia Environmental Trust has been supporting community and environmental projects through the Landfill Communities Fund for over 17 years. Since we were established in 1997, Veolia has supported us by contributions of over £61 million to 1888 projects.
We have helped fund a diverse range of projects, including the repair of woodland footpaths, the renovation of community halls and the installation of playgrounds and play areas. For more information, or to find out how to apply for funding, visit our website www.veoliatrust.org.
