A YOUTH service in Blaenavon has been awarded £42,825 from the latest landfill tax windfall for environmental and community projects in Wales.

More than £500,000 of funding through the tax has been announced by the Welsh Government, and the Blaenavon Community Hub is among 17 projects across Wales to benefit from grants of between £5,000 and £50,000.

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This funding will help expand the only community-run youth service serving the young people of Blaenavon by creating new holistic meeting and training spaces, refurbishing and making buildings energy efficient, and by minimising waste.

Now entering its second year, the Landfill Disposals Tax Communities Scheme funds community and environmental projects that support biodiversity and waste minimisation, or improve community spaces in areas affected by landfill disposals.

Since it launched last year, 44 projects have been awarded funding through the scheme, which is managed by the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) and funded by the new Welsh Landfill Disposals Tax (LDT), which replaced UK Landfill Tax last year.

To be eligible for funding, projects must be within a five-mile radius of a landfill site, or waste transfer station, and sending a minimum of 2,000 tonnes of waste to landfill each year.

Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, said: “It is wonderful to see the vast array of projects gaining funding through this scheme - benefitting not just the environment through projects protecting and restoring woodlands, but also supporting communities and giving them the opportunity to take responsibility for it themselves. It is also pleasing to see the conservation benefits, with littler terns and red squirrels enjoying protection.”