No We Don’t Approve?
NO WE DON'T APPROVE?
In a time when the majority of businesses are cutting their overheads and laying people off, Japanese Knotweed Solutions have been trying to expand.
We have new ideas, we have research to carry out and we would like some help in funding what could be a major boost to the company. We contacted various government funded bodies and were advised that the best avenue would be through the North West Development Agency GRAND application scheme.
Lets be clear on this – I had never heard of the ‘GRAND’ scheme – I didn’t know what it was, or what type of project it supported. I was advised by the powers that be, that this was the best way to get funding.
The project we had in mind was for research into composting of Japanese Knotweed stem and rhizome material. Currently millions of pounds every year are spent sending contaminated material to licensed landfill – at huge cost to the economy and using up precious landfill resource. The whole process of taking material to landfill requires huge numbers of lorries often travelling miles to the nearest licensed facility, which creates a massive impact on the carbon footprint of the works.
BUT…the NWDA didn’t approve the application!
They didn’t think it was ‘commercial enough’.
They didn’t think the research was ‘novel’ enough.
They didn’t think I had followed the guidelines for having an ‘applicable project’.
Small local business - employing local people in the Northwest – travelling throughout the country with a company that is recognised in the UK as the number one service provider in the industry….BUT …the North West Development Agency can’t help us.
Perhaps this is another reason why this country is failing. We need some support not just more paperwork and a negative attitude.
It becomes increasingly difficult to maintain enthusiasm in the face of useless government decisions, banks that just won’t lend and a development agency that doesn’t help you develop.
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