London Recycling Board hails 'massive' funding response 6 May 2009 Source: Letsrecycle.com The London Waste and Recycling Board yesterday (May 5) welcomed the "massive response" to its competition for funding which has seen 142 expressions of interest received from waste projects in the capital. However, members of the Board raised concerns that, due to the number of applications, smaller scale projects may not receive adequate scrutiny and the Board risked "throwing money down the drain" by funding some projects without proper monitoring in place. Responding to the expressions of interest, chairman of the Board, Mayor Boris Johnson, said: "We have been hugely encouraged by the massive response to our call for new ideas, which has demonstrated a wide range of exciting and innovative ways through which the Board can focus its resources to make big changes to waste management in the capital." "I am particularly pleased that the Board has agreed today not only to fund large commercial projects, but also smaller schemes, which will help communities with great ideas on how to tackle their waste locally, to get our support to do so," he added. Applications are now set to be reviewed and, at an as yet undetermined date, bidders will be asked to produce businesses cases which will then be individually assessed. Paul de Rivaz, chief operating officer at the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWaRB), said: "It is very much the first step and from here we have to go through a process where we review the applications with various checks and balances. At the end of it we will be asking businesses to produce business cases which will be individually assessed." Concerns The deadline for applications expired on April 1 and it was revealed that there were 35 "large projects" vying for a share of the £84 million in funding set to be distributed by the Board. Under proposals approved by the Board yesterday, there would be £2 million annually ring-fenced for the delivery of projects set to cost under £200,000 and, of that, £400,000 would be earmarked for a ‘micro-fund' for projects costing under £5,000. It was also agreed at the meeting that the Board's investment committee should grant approval for the projects under £200,000, including local community-led, grassroots schemes, to help start delivering results as quickly as possible. However, councillor Daniel Moylan, deputy leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, questioned the scrutiny that would be afforded to the large number of smaller scale projects. He said: "The £2 million means there would be a maximum of eight projects at £200,000 and 80 at £5,000, but are we going to have anywhere near the level of scrutiny and monitoring for these projects?" Cllr Moylan said that, in some cases, by funding the smaller initiatives it would be like "taking a punt" on a project "with very little capacity for monitoring them". Valerie Owens, an independent appointment on the Board on behalf of London Councils, claimed that it was important that the Board was "presenting an adequate level of diligence" with regards to scrutinising applications. Mayor Johnson agreed that it was concern and claimed that without adequate monitoring of projects of all scales then the Board could be "throwing money down the drain". Funding Also at the meeting, the Board agreed to enter the match-funding programme JESSICA (Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas), a joint initiative between the European Commission and the European Investment Bank. This would allow a further £18 million to develop waste management infrastructure, and would be used in tandem to the Boards' existing fund to help deliver projects in London. The Board - which was set up in 2008 to give a strategic steer over waste in the capital - is due to next sit on Tuesday September 29.