Environment Fund – Water Quality Improvement Strand (UK)

Deadline: 14-Feb-25

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has announced its Environment Fund – Water Quality Improvement Strand to deliver water quality improvements, help connect people with the water environment and bring about behaviour change.

Priorities

• Projects which have a strong link with one or more of the following will be looked at favourably if they are located within:
  • Local Management Areas; Belfast, Lagan, Roe, South Down and Strule which have been prioritised in the River Basin Management Plan 2021 – 2027.
  • Protected areas dependent on water (Drinking Water Protected Areas, bathing waters, shellfish water protected areas, Special Areas of Conservation (SAC).
  • Water, nutrient and sediment retention related to Areas of Potential Significant Flood Risk (APFSR).

Themes

• The key themes for funding under this Water Quality Improvement strand of the Challenge Fund Competition are:
  • Connecting people with the aquatic environment to achieve behavioural change
    • These projects will seek to increase the public’s appreciation, understanding of and behaviour towards their water environment. Including, but not limited to, an understanding of water quality pressures, how to reduce their impact on the water environment and how they can get involved and make improvements. For example, projects may include actions contributing to:
      • Volunteering, including the establishment of new local groups or greater public involvement within existing groups, to improve the water environment e.g. adopt a “local water body”, host a river day.
      • Community engagement and citizen science for aquatic/ marine conservation, protection and improvement e.g. Anglers’ Riverfly Monitoring Initiative, Invasive non-native species identification and training, outfall safari training, litter picking (can include purchase of specialist equipment).
      • Engaging and empowering the community to support to increase understanding of the water environment or develop citizen science skills, such as species identification or water quality monitoring, water conservation and development of digital/social media and webinars that tie in with behavioural change and raise awareness of key issues.
      • Local Pollution Prevention campaigns e.g. drainage misconnections, workshops, signage, leaflets.
  • Conservation, Protection and Restoration of their Aquatic environments. These projects should look to conserve, protect and restore their water environment. Such projects could include, but are not limited to:
    • Creation, protection or restoration of aquatic, coastal or marine habitat
    • Creation of blue and associated green spaces
    • Recovery of threatened aquatic and marine species
    • Improving and maintaining fish passage
    • Tackling invasive non-native species e.g. removal and biosecurity planning
    • Preventing, removing or cleaning up pollution e.g. litter picking, wetlands, buffer zones, awareness raising
    • Water quality surveying and monitoring e.g. Anglers’ Riverfly Monitoring Initiative, baseline surveys and post project surveys
    • The development of restoration plans
    • Action that aids the improvement of water quality e.g. tackling diffuse pollution
  • Nature-based solutions, particularly for climate change mitigation and adaptation These projects should seek to work sustainably with the water environment to address socioenvironmental issues, particularly in reference to climate change and flood risk management. For example, projects may include, but are not limited to, action contributing to:
    • Peatland and other wetland restoration to reduce pollution and flooding
    • Natural flood management e.g. silt trapping including woody debris to drains, swales, attenuation ponds, measures to prevent soil erosion and nutrient run off
    • Creating, enhancing or connecting blue and green infrastructure
    • River or waterways bank stabilization and in-stream improvements
    • Riparian management/tree planting, planting of native species/hedgerows, de-tunneling, etc.

Funding Information

• The minimum that can be awarded is £5,000 and the maximum is £30,000 (subject to budget approval).

Eligible Projects

• Projects must be consistent with the aims and objectives of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
• Grant applications will not be supported where work is targeted by other government grant schemes such as the Environmental Farming Scheme or the Woodland Grant Scheme.
• Projects must have a clearly identified need.
• Partnerships are encouraged where this will enhance the outcomes. Grants are discretionary.
• Grants will be awarded up to a value of 85 % of the total project cost.
• The Project must be completed by the end of February in the project year to allow time to process claims by the end of the financial year.
• A Letter of Offer must be formally accepted in advance of any expenditure on the project.
• Grants are paid in arrears in up to two instalments and subject to the Conditions of Offer.
• The Northern Ireland Environment Agency may publish details of all projects applying to and supported by the Water Quality Improvement Grant.

Eligible Costs

• The administration costs and day-to-day running expenses of an organisation will not be grant aided. These include accommodation and related costs, insurance charges, legal and other professional costs.
• Costs should be identifiable and verifiable. General apportionment of costs as overheads is not acceptable as eligible costs. Only actual overheads relating to the Project are eligible costs. A reasonable apportionment basis such as a percentage of direct staff costs or a fixed hourly rate of time charged should be used.
• Overhead items relating to the Project which may be included in the calculation are:
  • Rent of building and plant.
  • Utilities such as water and electricity.
  • Maintenance, public liability insurance and office equipment or supplies.
  • Communication and postage costs.
• Overhead items which cannot be included in the calculation are financial management, human resources, training or legal advice unless they can be directly attributed to the Project. In this case the incurred cost should be charged to the Project directly and not included in the overheads.
• Overheads, administration and on-costs should be no more than 20% of direct costs. The overall calculation method or percentage used should be specified on the application form.
• Costs unrelated to the Project will not receive grant unless the Project could not proceed without incurring them, or where they were for reasonable environmental improvements. Examples might be:
  • Reasonable extra costs for environmental enhancements and biodiversity gains.
  • Reasonable costs to make a solution less environmentally intrusive or to sustain existing amenities.
  • Where the Project reveals finds of such archaeological importance that approved works cannot continue without first securing the finds, additional costs may be considered for grant, but only at the minimum level to allow work to continue.
• The Northern Ireland Environment Agency is prepared to consider, for grant aid, the salaries, national insurance and superannuation of an applicant’s workforce who are solely engaged on the delivery of approved Projects, provided that these costs have not been included in any other public funding application. Records in respect of staff engaged on a Project, salaries paid and associated costs should be kept and made available for audit inspection.
• Where appropriate public liability insurance costs relating to the Project are necessary, these will be eligible for the grant.
• Any match funding which applicants receive from other funding bodies for the Project must be disclosed.

Ineligible Costs

• Funding will not be provided to those who have a duty to undertake specific work and cannot be used to ensure compliance with a legal obligation. Projects that duplicate work undertaken by other funding will not be grant aided.
• All VAT must be excluded from budgets and claims if the VAT is recoverable by the beneficiaries. If the applicant cannot recover its VAT it can include a line item into the budget and claim form. VAT must be stated separately from other costs.
• Water Quality Improvement Strand support will not normally be considered for the following:
  • The purchase of vehicles and other mobile equipment.
  • Work which is targeted by other government grant schemes for specific work areas such as agri-environment schemes.
  • VAT, if the Grant Applicant can reclaim VAT.
  • Actions by individuals or businesses as part of a planning consent.
  • Projects which could progress without support from Government funding.
  • Work which is the statutory responsibility of another body.
  • The purchase of land or the purchase and construction of buildings.
  • Gifts or entertaining including hospitality.
• This grant is being awarded on a no-State-Aid basis in regard to the below. Any aid granted to companies in Northern Ireland from 1 January 2021 which falls under Article 10 of the Northern Ireland Protocol that is, in respect of measures which affect trade in goods between Northern Ireland and the European Union, will have to follow the EU State aid rules. However, if required, the Department reserves the right to require that the Applicant repays any State Aid deemed to be incompatible.
• The Department reserves the right to recover any financial assistance granted subject to a decision by a court of law that the financial assistance in question constitutes a remediable subsidy and/or a decision by the European Commission (where it is established that the financial assistance in question falls within the scope of the Northern Ireland Protocol and is a State aid).

Eligibility Criteria

• The grant scheme is open to a range of groups and organisations, including community groups, schools, Rivers Trusts, environmental charities, other interested not-for-profit organisations and local councils.
• The organisation applying for the grant may have partners which are not eligible to apply directly or may sub-contract provision of services to such organisations.
• Supporting information to confirm the status and financial standing of the organisation will be required.

For more information, visit Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.