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Energy and Water funding is a crucial part of the UK government’s carbon emissions responsibility. Finding new ways of funding lower emission energy systems for business is one of the ways that the UK are pushing forward.
Water Capital Grant Scheme
The Water Capital Grant Scheme provides funding of £10 Million to applicants from the farming community, from the land management community and from the agricultural community to deal with water management which is a key issue in the industry. Those running businesses in these areas are able to avail of this scheme and create in-roads in water management.
This is designed to provide support to water management, and will provide £10,000 in a water capital grant to help carry out works which will improve water management and quality. The real focal point of the grant is to improve waterlines around agricultural industry and to reduce the impact of agriculture on the water quality of the surrounding area. The funding is for new projects which will help to move toward this goal, and applicants are able to apply for this through Natural England.
The Water Capital Grants scheme works in accordance with the woodland capital grant scheme, which creates the first of the new Stewardship Scheme from the government. This scheme will be committing £900 million to working with natural resources and protecting and benefiting the resources in the environment. Applicants to this scheme can avail of grant funding to really bring water usage in their business to a better level.
There are a whole range of funding options and projects which are eligible. Some of these are:
installing biobeds
preventing livestock access to watercourses by erecting watercourse fencing
providing drinking troughs as an alternative to watercourse drinking for livestock
relocation of sheep dips and pens
roofing of sprayer washdown areas, manure storage areas, livestock gathering areas, slurry stores and silage stores
Funding will be competitive with grants awarded to applications that best meet the scheme’s priorities and have the greatest environmental benefit.
The new water grants build on the successful Catchment sensitive farming initiative, which between 2013 and 2016 helped over 6,200 farms across the country benefit from a total of £72 million in grant funding to improve water quality and reduce pollution from agricultural activity. The water capital grants scheme under Countryside Stewardship will be managed and delivered through Catchment Sensitive Farming in 2018.
Work funded by the Catchment Sensitive Farming grant scheme over recent years has already brought efficiencies for thousands of farmers and has enhanced local environments throughout England by improving water quality.
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