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Annex C - Community beach/bathing water support proposal
Community involvement in beaches funding scheme
Suggested aims and objectives
Aim:
To encourage, facilitate and reward communities by designated bathing waters who are involved in litter prevention campaigns or events which would raise awareness of the impacts of coastal and marine litter on the environment.
Objectives:
- To provide funding to appropriate community groups to carry out practical clean-ups of the environment or run litter prevention campaigns in the area surrounding the designated bathing water.
- To support and promote community action with a focus on reducing litter pollution at Scottish bathing beaches.
- To raise awareness of the problems of coastal and marine litter pollution with support of the Clean Coast Scotland partner organisations.
It is proposed that grant funding could run for a period of three years, although any grant given would have to be spent within the financial year that it is given and on a project related to the three objectives outlined above. The grant would be given in advance of the bathing water season in which it would be spent. Only one grant would be issued per bathing water per year, however a group may be entitled to claim a grant for other designated bathing waters in which it operates.
Environmental Campaigns (Scotland), through the Clean Coast Scotland network, would provide web and press support on the grant scheme and would provide the Scottish Government with an annual report on the take up of the grant schemes and the success of the activities.
Any schemes funded would be additional to and not instead of the statutory duties of local authorities under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in respect of cleaning beaches in their ownership above the high water mark, and additional to any requirements on bathing water operators below that mark, as proposed under the draft Bathing Water (Scotland) Regulations 2008. Given this, the Scottish Ministers consider that the total resources needed for grant funding in this area are modest and should be restricted to a total of £4,000 a year across Scotland as a whole.
The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (Scotland) 2006 approved under the 1990 Act provides details of how local authorities should keep beaches under their control free from litter and refuse as far is practicably possible and within reason and the timescales for doing so. Further information on their legal duties is available in the booklet - 'Litter & Scottish Beaches - a guide for the public and practitioners' which can be downloaded at www.littercode.org or www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org .
Possible grant activities
There are potentially numerous activities or outcomes which a community group might wish to achieve as a result of receiving a grant.
Potential grant scheme projects could involve:
- Organising a clean up as part of KSB's National Spring Clean event. The money could be spent on providing clean up and publicity materials (Litter pickers, black bags and hoops, first aid kit, hand wipes, spades, forks, rubber gloves, or even a wheelbarrow or rubber boots) / litter removal costs / refreshments for the volunteers. www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/springclean
- Arranging a beach & bathing water day. The money could cover costs of workshops, a film showings about marine litter, a talk about the impact of litter on marine wildlife and public health, transport for children to visit the beach for the day/workshop from a local school.
- Information improvements - the grant could be used to put in sensitive signage for displaying information about litter surveys, litter picks, sources of litter and impacts of litter on designated bathing waters. This would be additional and not instead of any signage required under the draft 2008 Regulations.
- Producing local publicity material. The grant could be spent publishing posters designed by the local school children on the impacts of coastal litter and why it should be stopped.
- Surveying the beach litter as part of the Marine Conservation Society's Adopt-a-Beach or Beachwatch scheme. The grant could be spent on clean up materials, postage of survey results, a small report on the local types and sources of litter found which could be displayed at the beach information board. ( www.adoptabeach.org.uk )
- Litter ports. The grant could be used to buy raw materials to construct litter ports (collection points for litter a long way from beach access points which can be emptied by arrangement) and to facilitate litter collection.
- Recycling bins. The grant money could help pay for raw materials, or for the construction of frames for recycling bins. These could even be made of the recyclate (i.e. plastic bottle walls in a wooden frame for recycling plastic, can walls for aluminium etc).
- Permanent barbeque area. The grant could be used to install a permanent barbeque area close to the beach twinned with information highlighting the damage disposable barbecues can cause if used inappropriately.
- Campaign. Producing literature, posters, information about why the community wants to keep the area clean. This could perhaps involve running a workshop with Scottish Water on sewage related debris and how to tackle it, promoting the "Bag it and bin it" message in schools or to community groups.
- Neighbourhood awards. Money could be spent on putting together a local group to devise an action plan to improve the area around the bathing water. Painting an old shelter, improving the floral displays, removing litter from the car parks, beaches, considering biodiversity and the impacts marine litter can have on it locally. ( www.beautifulscotland.org )
Your views on these proposals are welcome, particularly on determining which community groups would be eligible for funding.
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