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WRAP Cymru receives £9m grant from Welsh Government

The Welsh Government has awarded the Welsh branch of the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP Cymru) charity £9.49 million of grant funding, as part of a £22-million funding pot from the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate.

WRAP Cymru receives £9m grant from Welsh Government

The funding has been awarded to the resource efficiency charity for a period of two and a half years (October 2015 to March 2018) and covers WRAP Cymru’s core activities in promoting materials resource efficiency (excluding any work undertaken with local authorities as part of the Welsh Government’s Collaborative Change Programme or the Resource Efficient Wales business and public-sector client manager services delivered in partnership with the Carbon Trust).

The Weslh Government says is hopes that by providing the charity with more than two years’ worth of funding now, WRAP Cymru will be able to ‘plan more effectively than with an annual allocation’.

WRAP welcomed the news of the 41 per cent increase in funding levels (compared to equivalent Welsh Government funding for 2014/15), with WRAP CEO Dr Liz Goodwin OBE saying: “We are delighted by the Welsh Government’s announcement of future funding for WRAP Cymru and look forward to continuing to work with the Natural Resources Minister on his green growth agenda.

“This funding increase is testament to the skills and experience of the WRAP Cymru team and the staff throughout WRAP who contribute to our work in Wales. It is a direct result of our outstanding track record of delivering behaviour change while offering excellent value for our funders. It is also indicative of the size of the Welsh Government’s ambition to create a truly circular economy.”

The funding boost comes in stark contrast to the UK government’s approach to financing the resource efficiency body; for the seven years running to 2015/16, central government will have reduced WRAP’s funding by 72 per cent (£40.5 million) due to ‘pressure on public finances’. As such, WRAP decided to pursue a bid for charitable status, to ‘access to a new source of funding’ last year.

FareShare and Keep Wales Tidy amongst other funding winners

Aside from WRAP, 15 other organisations have been awarded a share of £21.88 million from the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate core funding grant scheme.

These are:

  • Local Partnerships, £3.82 million;
  • Keep Wales Tidy, £2.73 million;
  • Constructing Excellence in Wales, £1.19 million;
  • Welsh Local Government Association, £984,000;
  • Groundwork Wales, £500,000;
  • RSPB, £483,000 million;
  • Wales Council for Voluntary Action, £450,000;
  • Coed Cymru, £449,000;
  • PONT, £427,000;
  • Plantlife, £309,000;
  • Llais y Goedwig, £265,000;
  • Fareshare, £250,000;
  • Welsh Wildlife Trust, £233,000;
  • Wales Environment Link, £179,000; and
  • Buglife, £115,000.

Announcing the winning bids this morning, Wales’s Minister for Natural Resources, Carl Sargeant, said: “I’m delighted to announce the successful applicants for this grant, who will deliver wide-reaching benefits to our communities and natural landscape whilst, crucially, providing value for taxpayers’ money.

“I’m particularly pleased with the mix of excellent organisations that have attracted funding – from wildlife organisations and champions of sustainable land management to those reducing waste and encouraging recycling.”

He added: “This funding is further evidence of the Welsh Government’s commitment to delivering a sustainable Wales and I look forward to working with these fantastic organisations to build on the good work already evident across Wales.”          

Find out more about the work of WRAP Cymru or the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate core funding grant scheme.

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