Aggregates Levy funded projects

Since 2003, the Cotswold Water Park Society has completed more than £1.5million worth of projects funded by Natural England through the Aggregates Levy fund.

What is the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund

The Aggregates Levy is a tax on the production of primary aggregates (sand, gravel and crushed rock used, for example, in the construction industry). Introduced in April 2002 part of the money raised is to fund the Sustainability Fund. This fund, the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund or ALSF, aims to address the environmental and social cost of aggregate extraction by delivering environmental improvements, minimising the demand for primary aggregates, promoting environmentally friendly extraction and transport, encouraging the use of recycled and alternative materials, and reducing the local effects of aggregate extraction.

Natural England is one of a number of organisations selected by Defra to award Sustainability Fund grants for projects which reduce the effects of aggregate extraction.

Natural England’s ALSF Grant Scheme aims to support projects that reduce or research the effects of aggregate extraction on nature conservation, landscapes, access, informal recreation and communities.

ALSF in the Cotswold Water Park

Since 2003, the Cotswold Water Park Society has completed more than £1.5million worth of projects funded by Natural England through the Aggregates Levy fund.
The length and size of projects varies, from land purchases to upgrading of footpaths. A clear link between the proposed project and the effects of aggregate extraction must be made in the application, and with almost 2 million tonnes being extracted from the area per annum this is not difficult to do!

Completed ALSF projects

2007

Reedbeds and Community Involvement Final report

2008

Cotswold Water Park Society