The Cleanaway Mardyke Trust is calling for the scheme which allows waste companies to contribute to the communities they operate in to be retained by the Government.

The trust gives out grants to Thurrock projects, funded by 20 per cent of the Landfill Tax generated by the site in South Ockendon.

Through the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme the trust has supported 35 environmental and local projects, ranging from a few hundred pounds to hundreds of thousands.

However, the scheme's future is in doubt as meetings with government officials have failed to provide any certainty it will continue.

The trust says it expects to "provide millions in grants" in Thurrock, and say the scheme is "an investment in all our futures".

Coun Pearl Betts, chair of the Cleanaway Mardyke Trust, said: "Local MPs and others throughout the country have joined landfill site operators in a call to government for the scheme to be retained for use by local people, rather than the benefits of landfill tax rebates being swallowed up in national spending plans.

"The success of all the projects funded by the trust is a tribute to all those individuals and groups who have worked so hard for the local community.

"Their hard work, determination and dedication has taken embryonic ideas which, with the support of the trust, have been transformed into schemes of which the whole borough can be proud."

Published Thursday December 20, 2001