News 

The third year of the Live Here Love Here Small Grants Scheme will help communities, schools and groups to take practical action to improve their local environment and support the growth of civic pride throughout Northern Ireland.

The environmental charity, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful will be working with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Tourism Northern Ireland, local Councils, Choice Housing and Coca-Cola to launch the Live Here Love Here Small Grants Scheme.

The Small Grants Scheme is designed to help groups improve the quality of their local environment by reducing littering and dog fouling; enhancing the environmental management of a local area; contributing to the development of civic pride within a community with a focus on environmental improvements or to enhance or attract tourism to their community through environmental improvements. Interested groups can visit www.liveherelovehere.org for more information and an application pack.

The scheme forms part of the wider Live Here Love Here programme, which includes an innovative media campaign and exciting volunteering opportunities to encourage participation all year round. To learn more please visit www.liveherelovehere.org.

The Small Grants Scheme is open to volunteer groups operating in participating Council areas:

• Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council

• Ards and North Down Borough Council

• Belfast City Council

• Choice Housing (NI wide)

• Coca-Cola (NI wide)

• Derry City and Strabane District Council

• Fermanagh and Omagh District Council

• Mid and East Antrim Borough Council

• Newry, Mourne and Down District Council

This year we are pleased to announce that the Live Here Love Here partnership has grown to include Choice Housing Association and Coca-Cola. They will be providing additional funding to groups who are active either within housing association areas or coastal areas and inland waterways respectively.

Groups will need to complete a simple application form detailing how their project will improve their local environment or community through practical action. The deadline for applications is noon on Monday 1st August 2016.

Ian Humphreys, Chief Executive at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, says: “These small grants support voluntary practical action where people want to grow a strong ‘can-do’ community spirit. It is exciting to see the grant scheme growing with the seven councils, DAERA and Tourism NI now joined by Choice Housing and Coca Cola. This simply means more money reaching the places and people whose ambition is to bring about positive change where they live.”

Environment, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister, Michelle McIlveen, said: “I very much welcome community groups and local organisations getting involved in protecting and promoting their local environment. The more they participate, the more clean and green their neighbourhoods will be. It is fitting, therefore, that my department is supporting the highly successful “Live Here Love Here” campaign, now in its third year. By supporting the campaign my department is helping Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and local councils deliver clear tangible benefits for the local community through this excellent grant scheme.”

Michael McDonnell, Chief Executive of Choice Housing said: “Since launching in 2014, Live Here Love Here has supported groups to take small but important actions that have made a big difference in our communities. We all want cleaner streets, with less mess and graffiti, and more green spaces in our neighbourhoods. These grants give everyone a chance to improve their environment and the sense of pride in the places they live.

“Our partnership with the campaign is one of a series of investments that Choice is committing to this year and that enable people to secure tangible benefits and build stronger community spirit. We hope that our support will help amplify the campaign’s efforts to revitalise and reenergise neighbourhoods across Northern Ireland.”

Gillian Shields, Community Affairs Manager with Coca-Cola HBC NI said: “Having supported the Clean Coast Programme for over 9 years we are delighted to be merging the already existing Coca-Cola Coast Care Grant Scheme with the Live Here Love Here Small Grants Scheme. It is my hope that with this funding a wealth of new projects will come into existence that will have a very real impact on the local community, and that’s something Coca-Cola are very happy to support.”

Andy Patterson at Tourism Northern Ireland, says: “A beautiful environment is part of the tourism fabric of Northern Ireland which our visitors greatly value. Last year’s small grants scheme enabled communities to take the lead in making positive changes in their neighbourhoods and deliver improvements around our coastline. We are delighted to support the Small Grants Scheme once again and we are confident that the projects which are enabled by this fund will add to the positive perceptions and profile of our destination by presenting a cleaner, greener Northern Ireland"

For more information on the live Here Love Here Small Grants Scheme please visit www.liveherelovehere.org or contact Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful on 028 9073 6920.

More resources than ever are being devoted to maintaining a clean and welcoming environment in Northern Ireland, according to the Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.

In a report published today, the environmental charity said that the last year had seen major milestones in the campaign against litter, with record numbers of school children receiving anti-litter education; record numbers of fixed penalties being issued for littering, and a record spend on street cleansing.

Environment Minister, Mark H Durkan MLA said, “I welcome the findings of this report and commend Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful for the valuable work they undertake to raise awareness of local environmental quality issues, whether that is by educating our children through the Eco-Schools programme, promoting a cleaner environment through the Live Here, Love Here campaign, or the other initiatives in which they are involved. The improvements highlighted in the report are encouraging and show the value of a multi-faceted approach. We do though have some way to go to eradicate the blight of litter and dog fouling in our towns and countryside and on our beaches. However, this report does show that central and local government, working in partnership with organisations such as KNIB, can make an impact. I am proud to have supported KNIB’s activities over a number of years and look forward to government continuing that partnership.”

This intensification of efforts by Councils was welcomed by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful CEO, Dr Ian Humphreys, who said “£40 million a year on street cleansing is an enormous cost but actually many hidden costs make the final bill far greater. For example, studies have shown that high levels of litter correlate with increased rates of depression and other mental health problems. The result is an estimated £15 million drained from already stretched NHS finances.”

During the academic year ending in June 2015 Northern Ireland became the first country in the world to have every school in the country registered with the Eco-schools programme, which has anti-littering and respect for the environment at its core.

A record number of Fixed Penalties Notices were issued for littering and dog fouling during 2014-15, the most recent period for which figures are available. However, the official figures highlight the postcode lottery for fixed penalties, with 49% being issued in Belfast, and a further 18% in Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon District.

Dr Humphreys continued “This shows how councils are prepared to take action against the minority of people who continue to go against what is normal and acceptable. These figures show people who litter that they are ever more likely to be caught and fined.

The charity also calls on other Statutory Undertakers such as the DRD Roads Service and Rivers Agency to match the efforts made by Councils, with litter on roadside verges and in streams frequently putting off tourists and businesses and hurting our economy. Dr Humphreys said “Councils are not the only organisations with litter cleansing responsibilities, but they are the only ones working hard to fulfil them. In April every year we hold a Big Spring Clean, with around 90,000 volunteers taking part in 2015. A large number of those people are cleaning up roadside verges, open spaces and the banks of streams because it isn’t being done by the organisations responsible for them.”

All of this effort taken together has led to an improvement in the litter levels around the country. The headline figure – the percentage of places surveyed which are deemed ‘unacceptable’ – fell from 17% in 2014 to 12% in 2015, following three years of worsening results.

Dr Humphreys concluded “Coming as it does when people are beginning to think about spending more time outdoors on warmer days and brighter evenings, this report is positive news, but it’s also a call to action for everybody to play their part and show they live here and love here.”