HM REVENUE AND
CUSTOMS News Release (Ref: NAT 17/09) issued by COI News
Distribution Service. 18 February 2009
Contributions from
landfill operators to the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) hit £1bn today.
The fund, introduced in 1996 to redresses some of the
environmental costs of landfill, has benefited more than 24,000
local projects.
Angela Eagle, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said:
"The fund is an excellent example of the Government and the
private and charity sectors working together to make local
communities better places to live.
"Some 2,500 environmental bodies alone are involved in the
scheme. Parks, community centres, historic buildings and youth
volunteer environment schemes have all benefited."
Funds from the LCF help redress some of the environmental costs
of landfill by improving the environment in the vicinity of
landfill sites. Projects benefiting include reclaimed land,
improvements to community facilities, repairs to places of worship
and habitat creation in support of biodiversity.
The LCF works by allowing landfill site operators to claim a tax
credit of the contributions they make to Environmental Bodies
(EBs) for spending on specified projects.
Notes for editors
1. The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) allows a maximum of six
per cent of an operator's annual landfill tax liability to be
claimed as a tax credit, giving a potential value to the scheme of
about £70m credit claimable.
2. The Fund is managed by an organisation independent of
government, the Environmental Trust Scheme Regulatory Body Ltd
(ENTRUST), formed specifically to regulate the Fund.
3. ENTRUST is a not-for-profit, private sector company funded
through a levy on Environmental Bodies' (EBs) contributions
to the scheme, currently set at 2.28 per cent. ENTRUST is
responsible for enrolling qualifying EBs and assuring that
contributions are properly spent. It can revoke an EB's
enrolment if it is not satisfied that a contribution has been used
in accordance with the regulations.
4. See the ENTRUST website at http://www.entrust.org.uk/.
Issued by HM Revenue & Customs Press Office
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