This month, the Veolia Environmental Trust announced it awarded another £1m to a further 19 projects across England as the organisation reaches over £100m of donations since its founding in 1997.
The money from the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) has transformed 910 community centres, 337 play areas, 368 nature reserves, 263 sports facilities, 183 parks, 15 woodlands and 40 community gardens to date.
Over the past 25 years, the trust has invested in local community and environmental projects from nature reserves to skateparks, working alongside partners such as regional Wildlife Trusts and community groups.
This September, £350,000 was donated to the Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust (SRWT) to purchase land at Ughill Farm to test and learn nature-friendly farming techniques. The upland farm will demonstrate how a financially viable farm can be run in a nature-positive way. The project is also supported by Natural England as a way to combat habitat loss in the area, if subject to more intensive agricultural practices. The nature of this project also gives many opportunities for reduction in carbon emissions by reverting to traditional farming practices and achieving carbon sequestration through habitat creation and restoration work.
Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust head of conservation and land management Roy Mosley said: “This grant has enabled an incredible achievement for us. It brings us so much closer to achieving our aim of ensuring that 30% of land and water is great for nature by 2030. Thanks to the generosity of Veolia Environmental Trust we will be able to test and learn nature-friendly farming practices, while we safeguard the future of the special birds, mammals, invertebrates and wildflowers on site. Nature’s recovery starts now.”
Other Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) have been supported through the trust, such as the Old River Bed on the edge of Shrewsbury Town Centre. Working alongside the Shropshire Wildlife Trust, it has donated £60,000 to reintroduce beavers, once native to England, but which have been extinct in the UK since the 16th century.
In addition to environmental projects, the trust also champions projects which have a profound impact on local communities, such as the Bosnia and Herzegovina UK Network in Birmingham. A donation of £75,000 was made in December 2023 to help install new windows to their community centre that has supported a number of community groups, most recently refugees from Syria and displaced people from the Ukraine war.
Chair Caroline Schwaller MBE said: “It’s incredibly rewarding to see the positive impacts that the Trust has made over the past quarter of a century, but we won’t be stopping at £100 million, there’s more projects that need our support.
“The vast range of projects that we’ve supported have had profound impacts on their local communities, including jobs and volunteering opportunities for over 2,500 people. None of this would be possible without the work of the teams throughout the Veolia Environmental Trust who have put time and commitment to ensure the funds went to worthy projects throughout the UK.”
