Very few people will have heard of the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund - but it is a victim of government cuts.
The Aggregates Levy is a levy on industries who dig minerals out of the ground which has essentially been hypothecated to be spent on local environmental projects.
And, yes, the RSPB benefitted from some of this money (because we sent in good bids for it) over the years. In fact we benefitted to the tune of a few million pounds over the last few years for projects on several of our nature reserves and on giving land owners advice on hethland restoration and creation. Pond Conservation's excellent Million Ponds Project and Buglife's work on saving white-clawed crayfish has also benefitted from funding through this route.
In the new era, the levy continues but the money is not hypothecated and goes straight to the Treasury where it will be spent on 'general purposes'. This, therefore, represents a move away from localism, a move away from Big Society and a move away from 'greenest government ever'.
What next? The Landfill Communities Fund?
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
Gayna, redkite and nightjar - you all mention 'greenest government ever'. This is clearly a decision that Defra would have to defend but looks very much like a Treasury decision. Greenest Treasury ever?
Bob - well, up to a point, but the removal of the money is by the UK Treasuury (acting in England) and the provision of money is from the EU. So tyhe two are hardly linked very closely. See my blog tomorrow for bustard talk.