After the brown bin and the blue bin, here's the cash bin
Monday, 21st March 2011.
Not satisfied with recycling huge amounts of household waste through its brown and blue bins, St Edmundsbury Council is turning its hand to recycling money.
Projects in Haverhill are benefiting from an innovative way of spending Government funds which will see the money recycled for future projects throughout St Edmundsbury.
In August 2007 the borough was designated a growth area. The Government awarded £5million to St Edmundsbury Borough Council to support the future growth in, for example, homes, jobs and services.
An initial programme of development has now finished, with all the money allocated but, with £3.6 million being given as loans, the money can be recycled into other projects in the future.
Cllr Terry Clements, chairman of St Edmundsbury’s Growth Area Partnership Board, said: “Many councils simply handed over their money to developers but we decided to be innovative and safeguard some funds for the future.
"By negotiating loans instead of grants we can recycle that money, at a time when public funds are drying up, into other projects when the loans are repaid.
"Everybody benefits – the developers get a helping hand to kickstart their plans, jobs are created and we get to use the money again.”
Examples of where the loans are being made include the £750,000 loan to Carisbrooke Developments at Hanchet End Business Park, Haverhill, to help towards the high costs of infrastructure such as roads, utilities and earthworks to deal with the site’s slope. The loan is paid back as income starts to come from businesses.
There's a bigger example in Bury St Edmunds in the shape of a £2.5million loan to developer to bring forward Moreton Hall Relief Road and A14 junction improvements at Rougham.
Other projects which have also been funded through the growth area funding are:
• Contribution to a project to build ten affordable homes to high levels of sustainable construction at Millfields Way, Haverhill – £180,000;
• Contribution to future Haverhill High Street environmental enhancements – £750,000;
• Around £440,000 for open spaces, and footpath accessibility improvements into the rural areas, Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill.
This last follows a Government expectation that around ten per cent of the growth area funding would be on green infrastructure and the projects were identified following studies which highlighted areas which were deficient in the amount of space or facilities available.
The areas where money has been allocated in Haverhill include Wilsey tree planting and new path creation, Railway Walk and wildlife site interpretation, and community use of the Clements Primary School site, when it closes.
Projects in Haverhill are benefiting from an innovative way of spending Government funds which will see the money recycled for future projects throughout St Edmundsbury.
In August 2007 the borough was designated a growth area. The Government awarded £5million to St Edmundsbury Borough Council to support the future growth in, for example, homes, jobs and services.
An initial programme of development has now finished, with all the money allocated but, with £3.6 million being given as loans, the money can be recycled into other projects in the future.
Cllr Terry Clements, chairman of St Edmundsbury’s Growth Area Partnership Board, said: “Many councils simply handed over their money to developers but we decided to be innovative and safeguard some funds for the future.
"By negotiating loans instead of grants we can recycle that money, at a time when public funds are drying up, into other projects when the loans are repaid.
"Everybody benefits – the developers get a helping hand to kickstart their plans, jobs are created and we get to use the money again.”
Examples of where the loans are being made include the £750,000 loan to Carisbrooke Developments at Hanchet End Business Park, Haverhill, to help towards the high costs of infrastructure such as roads, utilities and earthworks to deal with the site’s slope. The loan is paid back as income starts to come from businesses.
There's a bigger example in Bury St Edmunds in the shape of a £2.5million loan to developer to bring forward Moreton Hall Relief Road and A14 junction improvements at Rougham.
Other projects which have also been funded through the growth area funding are:
• Contribution to a project to build ten affordable homes to high levels of sustainable construction at Millfields Way, Haverhill – £180,000;
• Contribution to future Haverhill High Street environmental enhancements – £750,000;
• Around £440,000 for open spaces, and footpath accessibility improvements into the rural areas, Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill.
This last follows a Government expectation that around ten per cent of the growth area funding would be on green infrastructure and the projects were identified following studies which highlighted areas which were deficient in the amount of space or facilities available.
The areas where money has been allocated in Haverhill include Wilsey tree planting and new path creation, Railway Walk and wildlife site interpretation, and community use of the Clements Primary School site, when it closes.
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