A NOISE problem for the community hall of St John the Evangelist, Victoria Avenue, Grays, is going to be solved thanks to a grant from The Veolia Environmental Trust.

The organisation has awarded the church £7,434 through the Landfill Communities Fund to fund the installation of urgently needed acoustic panels.

The panels will reduce the noise generated by events and activities in its community hall.

The grant is one of 33 grants awarded by the organisations board to community and environmental projects in England, with a grand total of over £1million.

Since the Landfill Communities Fund was established, Veolia has provided over £47million of funding for projects in Essex.

The organisation will now start working with the church to finalise the project’s details, including its start date, so that work can begin as soon as possible.

A representative of St John the Evangelist, Maureen Challis, said: “Although a wide range of groups use and enjoy our hall, sometimes the noise generated is unbearable.

"These panels will deaden it, benefitting current and future users.”

Veolia’s Chief Corporate officer, Robert Hunt, who is also a member of The Veolia Environmental Trust’s Board, said: “This grant represents our continued commitment to Essex, especially the areas around our operations in Rainham and Pitsea.

"The church needs to be congratulated on its hard work so far and we all look forward to seeing this project start in 2017.”

The Veolia Environmental Trust supports a wide range of community and environmental projects throughout England and Wales. The money we use for grants is made available through the Fund.

Veolia has supported this initiative by contributing over £68million since we were established, which to date has been used to award 2095 grants to projects.

The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) is a tax credit scheme enabling Landfill Operators (LOs) to contribute money to organisations enrolled with ENTRUST as Environmental Bodies (EBs).

They use this funding for a wide range of community and environmental projects in the vicinity of landfill sites. LOs are able to claim a credit, currently 4.2 per cent, against their landfill tax liability for 90 per cent of the contributions they make.

Since it started in 1996, over £1.3billion has been spent on more than 51,000 projects across the UK.