DAERA Environmental Challenge Fund

Overview

The Challenge Fund is an environmental funding programme. It was established in 2011 to enable groups from the community and voluntary sector deliver a range of environmental projects. The programme is very competitive and has been oversubscribed since 2011. Whilst applications may comply generally with the objectives of the programme, they are not guaranteed to receive funding.

Environment Fund – Water Quality Improvement Strand

An additional strand of the Environment Fund has been launched with a closing date for applications by noon of the 10 March 2023.

This is a grant competition funding projects to deliver water quality improvements subject to budget approval, help connect people with the water environment and bring about behaviour change. The key areas for funding under the Water Quality Improvement strand are:

Connecting people with the aquatic environment to achieve behavioural change

• Volunteering, including the establishment of new local groups or greater public involvement within existing groups, to improve the water environment e.g. adopt a “local water body”, host a river day.
• Community engagement and citizen science for aquatic/ marine conservation, protection and improvement e.g. Anglers’ Riverfly Monitoring Initiative, Invasive non-native species identification and training, outfall safari training, litter picking (can include purchase of specialist equipment).
• Engaging and empowering the community to support to increase understanding of the water environment or develop citizen science skills, such as species identification or water quality monitoring, water conservation and development of digital/social media and webinars that tie in with behavioural change and raise awareness of key issues.
• Local Pollution Prevention campaigns e.g. drainage misconnections, workshops, signage, leaflets.

Conservation, Protection and Restoration of our Aquatic environments:

• Creation, protection or restoration of aquatic, coastal or marine habitat.
• Creation of blue and associated green spaces.
• Recovery of threatened aquatic and marine species.
• Improving and maintaining fish passage.
• Tackling invasive non-native species e.g. removal and biosecurity planning.
• Preventing, removing or cleaning up pollution e.g. litter picking, wetlands, buffer zones, awareness raising.
• Water quality surveying and monitoring e.g. Anglers’ Riverfly Monitoring Initiative, baseline surveys and post project surveys.
• The development of restoration plans.
• Action that aids the improvement of water quality e.g. tackling diffuse pollution.

Nature-based solutions, particularly for climate change mitigation and adaptation

These projects should seek to work sustainably with the water environment to address socio-environmental issues, particularly in reference to climate change and flood risk management.

For example, projects may include, but are not limited to, action contributing to:

• Peatland and other wetland restoration to reduce pollution and flooding.
• Natural flood management e.g. silt trapping including woody debris to drains, swales, attenuation ponds, measures to prevent soil erosion and nutrient run off.
• Creating, enhancing or connecting blue and green infrastructure.
• River or waterways bank stabilization and in-stream improvements.
• Riparian management / tree planting, planting of native species/hedgerows, de-tunneling, etc.

Who can apply?

The fund is open to applications from constituted not-for-profit organisations and councils, and projects will run from spring 2023 until March 2024.

• Open to a range of groups and organisations, including community groups, schools, Rivers Trusts, environmental charities, other interested not-for-profit organisations and local councils.
• The organisation applying for the grant may have partners which are not eligible to apply directly or may sub-contract provision of services to such organisations.
• Supporting information to confirm the status and financial standing of the organisation will be required.
• Applicants should also either already be registered on the government funding database https://govfunding.nics.gov.uk/ or be in the process of registering.

How much can they offer?

The Water Quality Improvement strand of the Environment Fund budget is limited.

For the 2023/24 Environment Fund – Water Quality Strand Funding will cover up to 85 % of total project cost. The minimum that can be awarded is £5,000 and the maximum is £30,000 (subject to budget approval). Payment of grant will be in arrears unless there are exceptional circumstances requiring a degree of payment upfront.

The creation of buildings is not eligible.

Applications may be refused or offered a lower level of funding if there is insufficient budget or there are concerns about value for money or risks in delivering the outputs.

Priorities for funding

Applicants are strongly encouraged to view the current Water Framework Directive status of their chosen water body using the NIEA Catchment Data Map Viewer and Water Information Request Map Viewer: https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/daera-map-viewers

Eligible projects need to have a clear objective to do at least one of the below:

• Improve the water body status
• Raise awareness of water pressures in the community
• Encourage behaviour change in the local community

Projects which have a strong link with one of more of the below will be looked at favourably if they are located within;

• Local Management Areas; Belfast, Lagan, Roe, South Down and Strule which have been prioritised in the River Basin Management Plan 2021 - 2027. You can download the shapefile from https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/local-management-areas-digital-datasets
  • Only projects which have a strong link with one or more of the areas above will be able to score full marks during the assessment process using a pre-agreed assessment matrix.
• Protected areas dependent on water (Drinking Water Protected Areas, bathing waters, shellfish water protected areas, Special Areas of Conservation (SAC). Protected areas can be viewed on https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/daera-map-viewers
• Water, nutrient and sediment retention related to Areas of Potential Significant Flood Risk (APSFR). A map of the APSFR sites can be viewed on page 4 (Figure 1-3) https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/infrastructure/second-cycle-ni-flood-risk-management-plan-may-2022.pdf Detailed descriptions of each APSFR site can be viewed on https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/publications/second-cycle-northern-ireland-flood-risk-management-plan-2021-2027

Eligible projects

• Projects must be consistent with the aims and objectives of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
• Grant applications will not be supported where work is targeted by other government grant schemes such as the Environmental Farming Scheme or the Woodland Grant Scheme.
• Projects must have a clearly identified need.
• Partnerships are encouraged where this will enhance the outcomes.
• Grants are discretionary.
• Grants will be awarded up to a value of 85 % of the total project cost.
• Grants are capped at £30k (minimum of £5k).
• The Project must be completed by early March 2024.
• A Letter of Offer must be formally accepted in advance of any expenditure on the project.
• Grants are paid in arrears in up to two instalments and subject to the Conditions of Offer.
• The Northern Ireland Environment Agency may publish details of all projects applying to and supported by the Water Quality Improvement Grant.
• Complete application forms should be received by noon on 10 March 2023.

Match Funding

Grant Applicants must be able to demonstrate that sufficient match funding is available to complete their project. They can take account of contributions in-kind, including labour or donations of materials. When calculating the value of volunteer time please use the following standard rates below (as published by the Heritage Lottery Fund):

• Unskilled tasks can be costed at up to £50 per day. This might include removal of aquatic invasive alien species, riparian planting.
• Skilled tasks can be costed at up to £150 per day. This might include training in identification of aquatic alien species or verifying data in a species identification project.
• Professional tasks can be costed at up to £350 per day. This might include carrying out an ecological impact assessment or designing a river restoration scheme.

ELIGIBILITY – COSTS

Project funding will be limited to the current financial year. Projects requiring repeat funding for addressing an issue, campaign or area of work are not eligible for this grant. Projects should therefore clearly identify the area of need, resource requirements and scheme of work.

The project costs, staff and other resources required must be assessed carefully when preparing the application as there are limited opportunities for making amendments once the bid has been submitted and approved. Sufficient resources must be allocated to ensure the Project is being managed properly, keeping complete financial records and supporting documents.

Problems may be experienced if projects slip in relation to their expected financial spending profile, potentially leading to a loss of grant.

Project Costs

Which costs are eligible?

The administration costs and day-to-day running expenses of an organisation will not be grant aided. These include accommodation and related costs, insurance charges, legal and other professional costs.

Costs should be identifiable and verifiable. General apportionment of costs as overheads is not acceptable as eligible costs. Only actual overheads relating to the Project are eligible costs. A reasonable apportionment basis such as a percentage of direct staff costs or a fixed hourly rate of time charged should be used.

Overhead items relating to the Project which may be included in the calculation are:

• Rent of building and plant
• Utilities such as water and electricity
• Maintenance, public liability insurance and office equipment or supplies
• Communication and postage costs

Overhead items which cannot be included in the calculation are financial management, human resources, training or legal advice unless they can be directly attributed to the Project. In this case the incurred cost should be charged to the Project directly and not included in the overheads.

Overheads, administration and on-costs should be no more than 20% of direct costs. The overall calculation method or percentage used should be specified on the application form.

Costs unrelated to the Project will not receive grant unless the Project could not proceed without incurring them, or where they were for reasonable environmental improvements. Examples might be:

• Reasonable extra costs for environmental enhancements and biodiversity gains.
• Reasonable costs to make a solution less environmentally intrusive or to sustain existing amenities.
• Where the Project reveals finds of such archaeological importance that approved works cannot continue without first securing the finds, additional costs may be considered for grant, but only at the minimum level to allow work to continue.

The Northern Ireland Environment Agency is prepared to consider, for grant aid, the salaries, national insurance and superannuation of an applicant’s workforce who are solely engaged on the delivery of approved Projects, provided that these costs have not been included in any other public funding application. Records in respect of staff engaged on a Project, salaries paid and associated costs should be kept and made available for audit inspection.

Where appropriate public liability insurance costs relating to the Project are necessary, these will be eligible for the grant.

Any match funding which applicants receive from other funding bodies for the Project must be disclosed.

How much can they offer?

The Water Quality Improvement strand of the Environment Fund budget is limited.

For the 2022/23 Environment Fund – Water Quality Strand the minimum overall project cost is £5,000. The maximum grant awarded will be £30,000, except in exceptional circumstances. The maximum amount of Government funding available under the competition will be 85 % of eligible project costs.

Payment of grant will be in arrears unless there are exceptional circumstances requiring a degree of payment upfront.

The creation of buildings are not eligible.

Applications may be refused or offered a lower level of funding if there is insufficient budget or there are concerns about value for money or risks in delivering the outputs.

Grant Levels

The Water Quality Improvement Grant budget is limited. Scoring against the assessment themes and criteria only determines the potential of a project to support the delivery of the River Basin Planning objectives.

Additional factors will be assessed, alongside the outputs of other projects, before the final selection of projects to be supported is chosen. The overarching factors the Northern Ireland Environment Agency will also consider include:

• Evidence of the need for the project and its outputs
• Value for money
• Your organisation’s ability to manage and deliver the project
• How you will measure the progress and success of the project
• Environmental Impact
• Community Involvement and impact on behaviour change

Grant applications may be refused or offered at a lower level of grant if there is insufficient budget or there are concerns about value for money or risks in delivering the outputs.

Grant Applicants must be able to demonstrate that sufficient match funding is available to complete their project. We can take account of contributions in-kind, including labour or donations of materials.

Demonstrating Value for Money

The Northern Ireland Environment Agency must ensure that the project represents value for money – that is, to weigh up the quality of the proposed activity against the cost of its provision.

At all stages of the assessment process consideration will be given as to how an organisation is minimising costs, sharing resources and maximising value for money.

Match funding is required to be secured for the Project. Projects will have a higher likelihood of success if the amount sought from NIEA is less than 85 % of the project cost. Match funding can be secured from a variety of sources such as other grants, membership fees, and donations or in-kind.

The Applicant shall implement the procurement procedures as set out in the table below. The actions related in Table 1 should be implemented by the Applicant based on the estimated value (excl. VAT) of each contract at pre-tender stage. Procurement decisions must demonstrate best value for money and the Applicant must keep records which support its decisions.

See Guidance Notes for further information.