Borough Communications Support Programme
Guidance Notes for Waste Authorities Submitting
Applications
1.
Overview of Fund
Through the LWARB funded Borough Communications Support (BCS) programme,
grant funding and advisory support is available to London Waste Authorities to
deliver communications activity aimed at improving the performance of recycling and
re-use services.
Funding is available specifically for the delivery of communications activity that
supports Borough services and specifically for the following types of project:
 New Services – including the roll out of new services and the introduction of
new materials to existing recycling collections
 Low Performing areas – for example projects aimed at improving participation
in services, improving capture rates, targeting low performing areas and
estates.
 Re-use – including the roll out of new re-use services and improving
participation in existing services.
 Contamination – improving the quality of material collected through reducing
contamination rates.
This guidance note provides information on the funding available and how to apply
and should be read in conjunction with the associated application form.
2.
Support available
Over £400,000 of communications grant funding was allocated to Waste Authorities
in 2013/14, and approximately £100,000 remains to be allocated in this financial
year.
The remaining funding will be allocated on a competitive basis through a single
round. The deadline for receipt of applications is Monday 30th June 2014. It is
anticipated that funding will be awarded to waste Authorities by the end of July 2014
and that all projects will be rolled out by the end of December 2014.
There will be no limit to the amount of funding that can be requested by any
individual Authority (up to the maximum of £100,000 available). Funding requested
cannot be used in place of internal communication budgets or to fund core
communication activity.
Projects will be evaluated on the basis of
 the amount of additional waste tonnage that is recycled or re-used;
 value for money (tonnage/£); and
 ability to deliver savings for Authorities through avoided disposal costs.
LWARB will NOT consider providing communications funding for the following
projects
o
o
Commercial waste and recycling collections.
Waste prevention projects;
Borough Communications Support Programme
o
o
Projects relating to final disposal
Borough incentive schemes (due the number funded in London through the
DCLG Weekly Collection Support Scheme);
In addition, funding is not available for the monitoring and evaluation of projects.
If you would like to discuss your project before making an application or if you have
any queries on the application process then please contact Ella Clarke at WRAP on
07540 513260 or ella.clarke@wrap.org.uk
3.
Requirements for funding
Waste authorities making an application for funding must include the following:
o
Provision of service: Communications funding is available to local authorities to
support new or existing recycling and re-use services. A service can be a
household dry organics collection, HWRC, or bulky waste reuse and recycling,
service.
o
Project performance monitoring: Evaluation and monitoring is key to assessing
the impact of individual projects. Although no funding is available for the
evaluation of these projects, it is expected that Boroughs will outline a clear plan
for pre and post intervention monitoring and evaluation in their application and
that this will form part of the formal evaluation of projects.
Boroughs will need to provide baseline data to evidence their project, for example
demonstrating an understanding of where and what the low performance issues
are, and the likely reasons for these.
o
o
4.
Value for Money: The value for money score will be based on the tonnage of
additional waste diverted per annum per LWARB £ invested.
Communications: Please note that all projects that receive BCS funding must use
Recycle Now campaign materials, including the Recycle for London (or localised
equivalent) icon and the national material stream icons. WRAP Project Managers
will be able to provide communications advice, and all artwork associated with
the campaign must be submitted for approval prior to production.
How to apply
Borough Communications Support funding is available to London waste authorities.
Interested waste authorities should complete the Application Form and send it to
ella.clarke@wrap.org.uk with ‘Borough Communications Support Application’ as the
email subject. Applications must be received by 5.00pm on 30th June 2014.
5.
Timetable
The timetable for the Fund is set out below:
Action
Final round of funding launched
Date/Deadline
2 June 2014
Borough Communications Support Programme
Application deadline
Clarification/Scoping of projects by WRAP
30 June 2014
1 July – 18 July 2014
Evaluation of projects
End July 2014
Funding approvals by LWARB
End July 2014
Funding agreements issued to successful projects
8 August 2014
Deadline for delivery of all projects
6.
31 December 2014
Assessing the applications
Authorities will be evaluated against the key criteria listed below on the basis of the
information provided in the Application Form and through the clarification process.
The overall evaluation will be made of 4 key areas
1. Value for Money (VFM) (40%) – includes waste diverted per LWARB £ and
ability to delivery financial savings for waste authorities through avoided
disposal costs.
2. Project viability (20%)
3. Monitoring and Evaluation methodology (20%)
4. Commitment to the project – legacy, member approval, support from
communications team, in-kind support/internal funding (20%).
The funding decision will be made as follows:
 Review and evaluation by the WRAP Borough Communications Support team
and WRAP technical advisers.
 Recommendations and final approval by LWARB.
7.
Contracting
WRAP will discuss a funding and support packaging with each of the successful
waste authorities. All successful authorities will be issued with a Grant Funding
Agreement that they will need to sign and return to WRAP. The funding agreement
will include a detailed communications activity table with agreed milestones to be
delivered by the appropriate deadline. Please note that funding will be provided to
authorities in arrears of spend and will be claimed from WRAP through submission of
a monitoring form and evidence of spend.
Funding will be claimed every six months, although this arrangement can be flexible
and as such will be agreed with each authority.
8.
Monitoring
All funded projects will be expected to complete monitoring forms on a 6 monthly
basis (or in line with funding claims), including the submission of a final written report
at the point of project completion.