Green Infrastructure Eligibility Guidance

Published: September 2020

Disclaimer

Applicants should be aware that the Green Infrastructure Fund’s (GIF) eligibility criteria, guidance and application process are reviewed periodically and therefore may be subject to change. Make sure that you refer to the most up to date guidance at the time of application. 

The rules governing the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) programme are set out within the National Rules on Eligibility of Expenditure. The European Union and The Scottish Government reserve the right to amend these National Rules and NatureScot reserves the right to amend the published eligibility guidance in line with any changes during the period of the programme.

Decisions to fund projects will be based on the availability of funding, how well the project matches the GIF priorities, its contribution to GIF outcomes and our assessment of deliverability against the National Rules and GIF timescales. 

More information about the projects we are already funding can be found on our website.

Version Control

Date	Issue	Status	Author	Authorised by
5/9/18	1	Draft	FS	IR
13/9/18	2	Draft	FS	IR
21/9/18	3	Final	FS	IR
3/9/20	4	Final	FS	AK

 

Record of Updates

This table will be completed every time an update is made from September 2020 onwards.

Date	Page	Change

The Green Infrastructure Fund

The 2014-2020 European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme is structured around specific themes known as Strategic Interventions, administered by Lead Partners.  NatureScot has been selected to administer the Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention. Our mechanism for delivery is the Green Infrastructure Fund – a Challenge Fund which has allocated more than £15m of ERDF funding to Projects in urban Scotland on a competitive basis through the Green Infrastructure Fund and the Green Infrastructure Community Engagement Fund.  

The ERDF Operational Programme for Scotland states that the Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention will help to make Scotland’s cities more attractive and environmentally sound places in which to live and invest. More information on the thinking behind the Green Infrastructure Fund can be found on our website. 

We contribute up to 40% of the costs of each project in the Lowland & Upland Scotland area, and up to 70% in the Highlands & Islands. The balance of funding (usually referred to as match funding) is found by applicants from other sources, which must not include any other EU funding or funding from a commercial source.  

The Green Infrastructure Fund is now closed to new applications. This guidance is for use by grantees who have been issued with an Intention to Award letter under a previous round of GIF or GICEF, or who have already signed a Delivery Contract.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Information explaining how NatureScot uses and maintains personal data, can be found here. We can only use data about people if we also protect people’s privacy and follow data protection law. 

We will use the information you provide to us on the Green Infrastructure Fund Application form and supporting documents when we assess your application, and to keep accurate records of our work. To do this, we may need to discuss aspects of your application with other partners. If you do not want us to pass your personal details to others, please let us know by emailing [email protected]. 

Eligibility

Grantees are responsible for all aspects of implementation, monitoring and reports on projects, including:

• submission of accurate information as part of the application;
• acceptance of grant, including any standard or special conditions;
• delivery of the approved project including cash-flow management, submission of claims, monitoring and reporting progress, monitoring and verification visits in line with the grant offer and any associated legal contract; and
• the retention of projects documentation for the prescribed period to 2030 - including records confirming that any procurement complied with the Regulations and maintaining a full audit trail vouching expenditure incurred and defrayed.

Grantees need to be able to demonstrate that they have sufficient capacity (skills, expertise and relevant experience) to deliver and manage the project and have sufficient cash flow to support any delay in receiving Green Infrastructure Fund payments.

Eligible Projects

Green Infrastructure Fund projects must benefit one or more urban settlements in Scotland with a population of 10,000 or more, according to the most up to date 6-fold Urban-Rural classification from the Scottish Government. At the time of writing this is the 2016 data.

For more information on Urban Rural Classification please refer to the Scottish Government website.

Green Infrastructure Fund projects must clearly benefit areas of multiple deprivation – with priority given to the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland, as defined by the Scottish Government’s Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). Priority has also been given to projects which benefit communities living in close proximity to vacant and derelict land.

Projects can take place on any type of publicly accessible greenspace or involve greening of the public realm or buildings. Private spaces such as residential gardens, privately managed housing estates or schools where access by the general public is restricted are not eligible.

Grantees must be able to show that they have appropriate control over the land where the projects will take place. They need to confirm that they either own the site and retain the right to undertake the project or, if the land is not owned, demonstrate that they have a legal right to undertake the project works and to manage and maintain it for the duration of the auditable period of the Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention to 31 December 2030, or to have a binding legal agreement that ongoing management will take place for the auditable period.

Land purchase is not eligible except in exceptional cases. Only if the land purchase is a small element of a wider green infrastructure project and you can demonstrate that it is essential to the delivery of the project’s outcomes might it be eligible. Please discuss any potential land purchase with your support officer.

What is eligible for Green Infrastructure Funding?

Projects eligible for funding must create or improve Green Infrastructure and demonstrate fully how they meet the requirements set out in the National Rules guidance regarding eligibility.

Green Infrastructure includes the "green" and "blue" (water environment) features of the natural and built environments that can provide benefits and contribute to the quality of life in urban areas. Projects funded under the Green Infrastructure Fund should reflect the thinking in the Green Infrastructure: Design and Placemaking guidance published by the Scottish Government.

Green Infrastructure projects must:

• create new functionality in existing or new natural and semi-natural habitats; and/or
• create or retrofit urban greening, particularly where water and urban climate management benefits are integrated and links between greenspaces are established or re-created.

The projects must contribute to a need identified through at least one of the following: local and regional plans, policies and strategies; appropriate masterplans; charette; and/ or community consultation.

A principle aim of the Green Infrastructure Fund is to increase participation in greenspace. Community engagement is therefore a key component. Applicants must demonstrate how they have engaged the local community during the development of the application and how they will continue to do so during delivery of the project and beyond. The extent and quality of a project’s community engagement will be a key part of assessment.

ERDF is outcomes orientated, and therefore it is not possible to be 100% specific about which activities will be eligible. However, Appendix 1 sets out some examples of eligible and ineligible activities, and two examples are:

Would the following examples of projects be eligible for funding?

Yes - Urban nature park where there are opportunities to install water features to address off-site flooding issues, enhance habitat connectivity and create new, all-abilities access.   No - Urban nature park with water features and a circular all abilities path where the ponds need cleared out, and paths have become overgrown, the surface has deteriorated and will be replaced like for like.

The first project will create multifunctional green infrastructure with obvious additional benefits for the local community. The second, although similar and also beneficial to the community, would be regarded as maintenance and therefore ineligible for funding.

Timescales for project delivery

All successful GIF grantees have now been issued with Intention to Award letters. Procured contracts can be awarded once the Intention to Award letter has been received, but any works undertaken prior to the contract being signed are at the Applicant’s risk.

Only works incurred and defrayed within the approved lifetime of the project can be claimed for (see National Rules Section 4.1.2). The only exceptions to this are pre-contract costs such as design and ground investigation costs provided these were incurred after January 2014. Please note that costs for feasibility studies are not eligible. If you are planning to claim for pre-contract costs, please discuss these with your Project and Funding Officer first to confirm eligibility.

In response to delays caused by COVID-19 restrictions of 2020, the MA has agreed to extend the final deadline of ERDF funded operations until 31 December 2023. It is important to note that this is the absolute end date for the programme and that all financial claims must be submitted and paid by this date. To allow this to happen, all GIF projects must have a physical end date of no later than 30 June 2023.

The following sets out the revised timescales for completion of GIF projects:

Project works must be completed by no later than 30 June 2023;

• All grants must be claimed by 31 August 2023;
• Annual reporting on outcomes and results will be required for three years after the project has finished. Reporting requirements beyond this will be agreed with each individual project;
• The auditable period is until 31 December 2030 and grantees must be able to keep detailed records, suitable for local, national and EU audits until then.

The dates above are absolute end dates and in practice we would like all projects to finish as far in advance of these dates as possible. End dates for individual projects are agreed with each grantee prior to signing of contracts.

Ineligible items

Only items eligible for ERDF will be funded. Where a project includes one or more ineligible item, this will be removed from the project costs and the grant award amended accordingly. If a grantee wishes to proceed with the ineligible items as part of their overall programme of work, these must be fully funded from elsewhere (i.e. with no ERDF contribution).

If significant levels of ineligible expenditure are proposed in a claim, this will delay processing and payment and it is likely it will be rejected.

Scale of eligible projects

GIF projects are of a scale and level of ambition to have a significant impact and achieve long term, transformational change. Our monitoring and reporting will look at projects over a longer timeframe after delivery (to 2030) to see how well the expected results have been delivered.

To ensure projects are of the required scale, NatureScot has determined the following minimum amounts:

• the total project eligible costs must be a minimum of £650,000
• for LUPS projects at a 40% intervention rate, this means that projects must require a minimum ERDF grant of £250,000

If your project’s budget is likely to change during delivery please let your Project and Funding Officer know at the earliest opportunity as there may be implications for your grant, particularly if it is likely to fall below the minimum level for funding.

Match funding

ERDF funding is funding of last resort. The Green Infrastructure Fund contribution should be the minimum amount required to allow your project to proceed. The Green Infrastructure Fund is a ‘gap’ fund. This means that if you reduce the size of your project once it is underway or if your costs reduce (e.g. after work is tendered), you may not be able to draw down the full amount of money we have awarded. Also, if after approval you receive additional funding from elsewhere for the activities supported by ERDF, this could lead to a corresponding reduction in the ERDF contribution. We would recommend that any additional funding applied for post-ERDF approval should be associated with an increase in total budget (and therefore an increase in outcomes) or for activities separate from those supported by ERDF. 

The intervention rate for Green Infrastructure Fund funding is up to 40% for the Lowlands and Uplands (LUPS) area and up to 70% for the Highlands and Islands (H&I) area.

The following sources of match funding are NOT eligible:

• European Funding of any kind;
• Corporate, commercial and private sector match funding  (i.e. contributions from companies that have shareholders who are paid out dividends etc. on profits or receive direct personal benefits); 
• In-kind contributions; and
• Other NatureScot funding.

Amongst others, Lottery funding, City Deal funding and funding through Landfill Communities Tax are acceptable as match funding. 

Formal confirmation of match funding must be provided before our contract with you is signed.

If the funding package is not complete, it is not acceptable for the applicant organisation to say that they will continue to seek funding for the gap but underwrite it if they are unable to secure suitable funding. This is because if your organisation can underwrite the shortfall, the case for ERDF funding as funding of last resort is weakened. 

Any revenue funding generated by the project will be deducted from the projects eligible costs and the grant reduced accordingly.

Advice regarding other potential funding sources can be found on the NatureScot website.  

Eligible Cost Models

Full details of ERDF cost models can be found in the National Rules. Please note that for the GIF/GICEF only two cost models may be used:

1. Direct Staff Cost + 15% Flat Rate;
2. Procurement.

Projects can use one of, or a combination of, these two cost models. 

Only works incurred and defrayed within the approved lifetime of the project will be eligible (see National Rules, Section 4.1.2).

Grant payments are paid in arrears following submission of the quarterly grant claim form and supporting reporting documents.

Direct Staff Cost + 15% Flat Rate

The Fund can support the costs of staff directly involved in delivery of the project, provided that they spend 40% or more of their contracted time on the project. Time spent on the project will need to be evidenced by using timesheets supplied to us by the Scottish Government. Timesheets are not, however, required for staff who spend 100% of their contracted time on the project.

Staff costs attract an additional 15% Flat Rate as a contribution to Indirect Costs generated by the project (see examples below). In other words, staff may be funded at the rate of:

Eligible Staff Costs = 40% (LUPS) or 70% (H&I) x (Staff Cost +15%)

Example 1:

Heading	£’s
Eligible Staff Costs	20,000
15% Flat Rate	3,000
Total	23,000
LUPS Grant (40%) =	9,200

 

Example 2:

Heading	£’s
Eligible Staff Costs	20,000
15% Flat Rate	3,000
Total	23,000
H&I Grant (70%) =	16,100

 

Examples of Indirect Costs which the 15% Flat Rate is intended to contribute towards include:

• Administrative Expenses;
• Premises Costs;
• Management Costs;
• Recruitment Expenses;
• Cleaning;
• Utilities;
• Mobile Phones;
• Volunteer Expenses;
• Staff Travel & Subsistence.

When you submit a claim for Staff costs you will be required to submit the following as evidence with your claim form:

• Finance System Report showing payroll transactions costed to the assigned project code;
• Payroll Record for the post concerned;
• Payslip;
• Evidence of Employer National Insurance and Pension contributions;
• Payroll BACS Report which contains the staff member’s Net Pay for that period;
• Bank Statement which show the Total of the Payroll BACS leaving the Grantee’s bank account;
• Timesheets (supplied to us by the Scottish Government and available for download on our Grantee Resources webpage).

Procurement

Information regarding procurement can be found in the National Rules, Section 1.8.

All items purchased for use in the project must be procured following the applicant’s own procurement policy, comply with the national rules and should be supported with a full audit trail for the appropriate procedure.

When submitting a claim for items purchased through procurement you will need to supply the following as evidence with your claim form:

• Finance System Report showing procured transactions costed to the assigned project code;
• Supplier Record from the Payables Ledger;
• Copy of all procurement records relating to the transaction – should align to the Application. Please use the Scottish Government’s Procurement Checklist if applicable;
• Tender scoring, including individual assessor scores;
• An Invoice showing Net, VAT and Total, Invoice Dates etc and Description of Goods / Services provided;
• If submitting interim payment invoices, sufficient supporting detail must be provided, preferably in the accompanying progress report
• Supplier BACS Report which contains the particular Supplier being paid;
• Bank Statement which show the Total of the Supplier BACS leaving the Grantee’s bank account;
• A Managing Authority Procurement Checklist
• Up to date Bill of Quantities/Pricing Schedule

Grantees must ensure they comply with the requirements of ERDF funding, meeting the European Union Directives, Scottish public sector legislation and the regulatory framework and any internal procedures and policy regarding procurement in force at the time of tender. As such, they are required to follow procurement principles (Open or Restricted tender or suitable Framework Agreement) for all elements of the work including the provision of works, materials and/or services. Procured contracts below the EU thresholds must adhere to the principles of the Treaty of Rome, ensuring that they are advertised and are fairly and equally treated.

Using another public body to do the work is acceptable as long as the competition was held in a fair and open manner. Similarly, delivery of elements by the grantee is acceptable as long as all work is again tendered in a fair and open manner using fully costed market rates. However, please note that internal invoicing is not acceptable.

Please refer to the Green Infrastructure Fund Claims Guidance, the Procurement Aide Memoire and the Scottish Government websites for further guidance on procurement:

1. Public Procurement Guidance for Practitioners
2. Public Procurement Scotland
3. Procurement Journey Routes

Changes to Eligibility Guidance

Please note that the European Union and The Scottish Government reserve the right to amend the National Rules and NatureScot reserves the right to amend the published eligibility guidelines during the period of the programme.

Decisions to fund projects are based on the availability of funding, how well the project matches the Green Infrastructure Fund priorities and its contribution to outcomes as part of the overall Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention. 

Grantee responsibilities

• Ensure that all targets are realistic and appropriate;
• Monitor and evaluate the performance of the Project;
• Complete our reporting and claim forms promptly and in full;
• Put processes in place to ensure all reported outcomes are accurate and can be evidenced appropriately;
• Establish systems for the retention of all appropriate documentation;
• Monitor, report and audit financial information;
• Maintain either a separate accounting system or an adequate accounting code for all transactions relating to an Project;
• Verify actual expenditure i.e. Direct Staff costs or Procurement models;
• Establish reliable systems for the retention and retrieval of all appropriate documentation, for the auditable life of the Project.
• Be available for audit if requested by NatureScot, the Scottish Government or the European Commission.

Potentially eligible activities

ERDF is outcomes led so there is no definitive list of activities which are or are not eligible. We’ve outlined below the types of projects and activities that are considered potentially eligible and ineligible for funding under the GIF.  Please also refer to our current funded projects.

Note that eligibility will be context specific and based on contribution to outcomes and therefore it is only possible to provide indicative guidance. These lists should therefore not be seen as exhaustive.

Activities we will not fund

• Staff posts that are less than 40% dedicated to ERDF programmes
• Any commercial activities
• Formal sports
• Buildings.

General Costs

The following costs may be eligible as part of the delivery costs for the project:

• Procured services and consultancy fees which are essential to the project, including community engagement specialists. These will need to be selected competitively. We are keen to see applications that work in tandem with the third sector and / or encourage volunteering or skills development
• Staff costs of people who are at least 40% dedicated to delivering eligible activity funded by the GIF. Full or part time is acceptable. Staff costs include:

• gross pay
• employer’s National Insurance
• superannuation/pension contributions
• Non-recoverable VAT
• Signage and interpretation – relevant sign and interpretation including those acknowledging the ERDF’s contribution
• Marketing
• Design costs or similar incurred prior to the project being awarded funding so long as they were incurred after 1 January 2014.

The following projects and activities are not eligible for funding under the Green Infrastructure Fund:

• Projects in rural areas or settlements smaller than 10,000 people
• Project costs which are eligible for EU funding from other programmes
• Anything previously funded by the EU or currently receiving EU funding
• Although the employment of staff who are at least 40% dedicated to the GIF programme is eligible, the following elements are not:
  • Statutory sick leave
  • Maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave
  • Staff training
  • Redundancy payments
  • Unfunded pensions
  • First aid or key holder allowances
  • Bonus or commission payments
  • Subscriptions or memberships of trade or professional organisations.
• Any expenditure defrayed outwith the eligible programme period (If the overall project contains ineligible work, the applicant can choose to phase projects to distinguish eligible and ineligible works.)
• Recoverable VAT
• In-kind costs
• Gifts
• Accounting costs and year-end auditing
• Commercial activities
• Works that are a condition of planning consent, planning obligations / gain or Section 75 Agreement
• Legal or statutory responsibilities
• Legal expenses
• Bank charges 
• Project feasibility studies
• Purchase of vehicles (cars, boats and other moveable equipment (e.g. forklift), equipment or furniture (NB As a grantee you can’t buy and own anything afterwards)
• Purchase of IT equipment e.g. laptops, mobile phones
• CCTV
• Construction project compensation event costs.

Glossary

Approved Terminology	Definition
Added Value	The clear, tangible increase or improvement in conditions as a result of the investment e.g. additional activity or outputs, increased number of participants, overall improvements to the quality of activity, innovation, synergy with other EU funds etc.
Additional	Work that would not have been done otherwise
Activities	Work that will be funded and undertaken to deliver the agreed outputs and outcomes.
Applicant	Body submitting an application to the Green Infrastructure Fund, up to the point that their application is approved.
Application	Applicant organisation’s project application submitted to the Green Infrastructure Fund comprising application form and the requested supporting documents.
Approved Purposes	What we award the funding for i.e. the activities and outputs that are approved for funding.
Assessment	The scoring exercise carried out independently by groups of three assessors.
Assessment Panel	A panel made up of three assessors who assess and score applications independently, prior to moderation.
Capital Expenditure	Eligible expenditure as per the headings in the National Rules.
Challenge Fund	A method of delivering support via a competitive application process. Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention funding is allocated to projects via challenge funds.
Clean	Match Funding that has not originated in any way from a European source or any other ineligible source.
Cost Model	A model for claiming and managing ERDF eligible expenditure. Procurement and Direct Staff + 15% flat rate cost models are the 2 models that will be used for the GI Fund.
Data	Numbers, words or images that have yet to be organised or analysed to answer a specific question.
Defrayed	Expenditure that has actually been paid and can be evidenced by bank statements.
Ecosystem Services	The processes by which the environment produces resources used by humans such as clean air, water, food and materials.
Eligible Activities	Activities which are allowed and may be funded under the Green Infrastructure Fund.
Eligible Costs	Costs associated with eligible activities that may be funded under the Green Infrastructure Fund.  These will be either capital or revenue costs.
Evaluation	Assessment of the success of the Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention and each project based on the agreed monitoring measures.
Gap Funding	The ERDF funding must be the minimum grant necessary to enable the Project to proceed once all other sources of funding have been taken into account.
Grantee	An organisation which has been awarded GIF/GICEF funding
Green Infrastructure	Planned greenspace and water that uses the natural environment to provide environmental and quality of life benefits.  It includes parks, street trees, play spaces, allotments, community growing spaces, playing fields, road verges, swales, green walls and living roofs, rivers, streams, wetlands and sustainable drainage, active travel and recreational routes.
Green Infrastructure Community Engagement Fund (GICEF)	A Challenge Fund for projects between £50-120k in value focussing on community engagement linked to green infrastructure in deprived areas of urban Scotland. It is an open, competitive fund.
Green Infrastructure Fund (GIF)	A Challenge Fund for capital projects over £650k in value which will create or improve green infrastructure in deprived areas of urban Scotland. It is the external mechanism by which we will allocate funding through the GISI. It is an open, competitive fund.
Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention (GISI)	There are six sustainability Strategic Interventions in the 2014-2020 ERDF Scottish Programme. NatureScot has been appointed by the Scottish Government as the Lead Partner for the GISI.
Green Infrastructure Team	The team delivering the Strategic Intervention and managing the Challenge Funds.
Greenspace	Greenspace Scotland defines greenspace as follows: ‘Greenspace can be defined as any vegetated land or water within or adjoining an urban area’ or it can be defined functionally by how people use the space – this is explained by our greenspace themes. Scotland’s greenspace facts are available through the State of Scotland’s Greenspace report and links to relevant surveys and statistics.
Horizontal Themes	The three European Structural and Investment Fund cross-cutting principles of Sustainable Development, Equal opportunities & Non-Discrimination and Equality between Men and Women.
Information Management	The processes by which we create, capture, use and store information.
Lead Partner	NatureScot is the Lead Partner for the Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention. The Lead Partner is responsible for delivering and managing the SI, allocating the funding to projects, coordinating claims to the Managing Authority and ensuring delivery of outputs and outcomes and monitoring and reporting of results.
Legacy	The lasting difference that the project will create for the local area and target groups.
Managing Authority	In Scotland, the Managing Authority for the 2014-2020 ERDF programme is the Scottish Government (SG) [Business Directorate, Structural Funds Division].
Match Funding	The funding required and secured from other sources in order to deliver projects. For the Green Infrastructure Fund, this will be at least 60% of eligible costs (30% in H&I).
Metadata	Descriptive information about data.
Moderation	A step in the Selection process when assessment scores are moderated by the Assessment Panel. The Audit and Compliance Officer will collate all the moderated assessments and scores for inclusion in the paper sent to the Scrutiny Panel by the Head NatureScot’s Structural Funds Team to assist them in recommending which projects should be allocated funding from an application round.
National Rules	The rules, published by Scotland’s ERDF Managing Authority, which govern the use of ERDF funding in Scotland.
Objectives	The high level description of what will be achieved by the Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention.
Operations	In the context of the GISI, each Challenge Fund is an operation and the projects funded through the challenge funds are projects.
Outcomes	Outcomes are detailed descriptions of what we want to achieve as a result of the delivery of the Projects. They are derived from the Strategic Intervention objectives.
Output and Result Measures	The high level measures that look at delivery of the objectives across the Strategic Intervention.
Outputs	The new infrastructure (both physical and human) that arises from undertaking the activities.
Physical End Date	The date by which all activities must be complete and outputs achieved.
PMB	The Performance Management Board (PMB) meet to agree which applications will be recommended for funding. They assure due process has been followed and look at the strategic fit of applications across the Outcomes and added value within the Challenge Fund budget.
Process Measures	The measures used to track how well the Strategic Intervention and the Projects are being managed and delivered.
Result Indicators	Three headline indicators (number of Projects delivering new/improved green infrastructure; increase in open space rehabilitated; % urban population satisfied with greenspace).
Results	The measurable change in outcomes resulting from the implementation of the Projects.
Revenue Expenditure	Eligible expenditure as per the headings in the National Rules. Examples being staff costs.
Selection	The entire process from receipt of a valid application to acceptance by the Managing Authority through which proposed Projects are selected to be part of the Green Infrastructure Fund and are awarded contracts.
Year	Anticipated calendar year that the cost will be incurred and defrayed.

Further information is available on our website.

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