Jane Nees BOP Regional Councillor www.janenees.co.nz

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council established the Environmental Enhancement Fund in 2000 to assist communities undertaking projects to enhance the environment. The fund provides seed funding for community-based projects that improve the environment and raise environmental awareness, and use the enthusiasm and skills of the community.

To date, more than $7.5million has been distributed to nearly 500 environmental enhancement projects across the region. In 2012, about 26,750 volunteer hours went into EEF projects equating to a dollar value of about $401,250. So, for every $10 allocated to EEF projects – the region benefited from a further $16 worth of volunteer work.

The regional council is implementing a ‘Doing Business Better' programme to ensure all parts of council are operating at maximum effectiveness for the same or lower costs. The EEF was recently reviewed with this in mind.

Changes to the fund have been proposed, which include removal of the contestable stage for the fund to enable applications to be accepted all year round beginning July 1, this year.

Instead of a sub-committee of council, it is proposed that staff be given responsibility for making decisions on funding allocations within their broader council delegated limits. For 2013/14, projects contributing to the enhancement of one of the following target areas will be prioritised for funding:

• Water quality and their habitats (enhancing our streams, lakes, harbours and estuaries and the surrounding habitats).
• Innovative sustainability actions (action based projects which optimise the use of the natural resources e.g. water, waste, energy).

Following endorsement by full council, these changes will be communicated to community groups and the general public. We hope that they make the fund easier to access in the future.

If you have any views on this or any other issue, please contact me on neesj@xtra.co.nz or ring me on 07 579-5150. Or you can visit my website: www.janenees.co.nz