The GBN is now (probably!) the first organisation nationally to win this accredited environmental award three times in five years after winning a regional award for its Halifax Community Garden project. The garden has been transformed from a piece of land underused for decades into a vibrant community garden reflecting strong links with Northern Pakistan.
The award-winning garden is at the heart of the Pakistani Kashmiri community in one of the 5% most deprived wards in the country. It was judged the best project in the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber, one of only five regional winners.
The GBN received its latest regional winners prize in the presence of Elliot Morley, MP, Minister of State for Climate Change and Environment at the annual Biffaward Awards of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts which reward excellence in the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme.
Dr Mark Fishpool, Director of Middlesborough Environment City, who was the independent judge for Biffaward said: “This project shows an excellent use of landfill tax funding to provide a valuable resource for the local community. Green Business Network are a professional organisation who have used their skills and experience to engage the local community – many of whom are from disadvantaged and minority groups – fully in a scheme to create an excellent public open space, which meets the needs of the surrounding communities in a sustainable way.”
In November 2002, the GBN won £2,500 from Biffaward in its ‘Research and Development, Sustainable Resource Use’ award category. This award recognised the success of the Wool Scourers’ Composting Scheme set up by GBN, which aimed to find a green solution to the disposal of sludge created by the wool industry. An initial grant of £27,451 from Biffaward was used to find ways of adding other waste materials to the sludge compost, to test for toxicity and to set out a best practice guide for treating the sludge.
The GBN also won the regional Bifaward in 2001 in recognition of the work done with the Ozanam Furniture Recycling scheme.
In 2006 the GBN’s Landfill tax projects at Ferney Lee High School, Todmorden and Ravenscliffe High School in Halifax were jointly shortlisted for the national award. From 173 eligible projects, these projects were adjudged to be in the top four in the Natural Environment category.
