Countryside Management Association News

A £2m scheme encouraging young people to apply for funding for projects to improve their communities is to be launched later this week. (YPN)

Greenprints is being set up to encourage 16- to 25-year-olds to get involved in environmental projects in their areas.

MP for Wentworth in Rotherham John Healey, is due to launch the scheme at a nature reserve in Doncaster on Friday. It will be managed by the SITA Trust - an offshoot of waste management company SITA that allocates funding from the Landfill Communities Fund -and environmental charity BTCV.

Volunteers will be able to apply for small grants for one or two-day projects, headed by BTCV and the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, or up to £10,000 for larger projects taking place over several months. The SITA Trust and youth volunteering charity have each put in £1m for the two-year scheme.

The scheme hopes to attract 7,000 volunteers with 700 projects completed over the two years.

Miles Sibley, development director of BTCV, said: "We will support the young people in terms of shaping their ideas but also when they get started we can be there to help with providing tools and equipment, leadership and basic first aid." He said that the scheme would give harder-to-reach groups the chance to get involved in volunteering.

Wildlife Trust mentors will be on hand to help youth organisations and schools with projects.

Julie Fulton, head of people and wildlife at the trust, said: "More young people will engage with their local environment and understand the value of it."