March 2022 News and Blogs

The National Forest for Wales is a unique venture to establish a nationwide network of publically accessible woodlands and forests. It will: stretch the length and breadth of Wales, making it accessible to everyone be a real community venture with new woodland being planted by communities, farmers and landowners right across Wales create new areas of woodland as well as restoring and maintaining Wales' unique and irreplaceable existing woodlands protect nature and address biodiversity loss...

Urdd Gobaith Cymru is a National Voluntary Youth Organisation with over 55,000 members between the ages of 8 to 25 years old and provides opportunities through the medium of Welsh for children and young people in Wales to enable them to make positive contributions to their communities. This year’s Urdd Eisteddfod take place in Denbighshire from 30 May to 4 June 2022. There are nearly 500 competitions to choose from for children and young people...

Your intellectual property is one of your most important business assets and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) want to help businesses across the UK protect and make the most of theirs. Nearly all businesses will own some form of intellectual property, and its important to know how you can protect it to ensure you aren't copied by anyone else. Intellectual property is something that you create using your mind - for example, a story, an...

The Chancellor delivered a Spring Statement today (23 March 2022) which includes: National Insurance starting thresholds will rise to £12,570 from July 2022 fuel duty for petrol and diesel will be cut by 5p per litre the basic rate of income tax will also be cut by 1p in the pound in 2024 an increase to the National Living Wage a cut to the Universal Credit taper For further information visit: GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Spring Statement...

Want to know how joining the Refill Revolution will benefit your business? Watch this short film to find out: Being listed on the Refill app connects you to thousands of app users in Wales looking for free water refills. Put your tap on the map and benefit from increased visibility, increased footfall and show your customers you are taking action against plastic pollution! Sign your business up as a Refill Station on the Refill app...

For over 50 years, ratepayers who occupied more than one unit of property in a building shared with other businesses and organisations were assessed for non-domestic rates (NDR) based on the following premise: Where their units of property were contiguous (touching), they received one rates bill. Where their units of property were separated by another business or an area in shared use, they received a rates bill for each unit of property. For example, this...

A major tidal project off Anglesey will benefit from £31 million of funding in what is likely to be the last large grant from the EU’s regional funding programme. Climate Change Minister Julie James confirmed the funding would be given to Menter Môn for the Morlais infrastructure project. The Morlais Infrastructure development aims to further the development of tidal power generation technologies by providing grid connectivity. An Advisory Group is being established to oversee the...

Join us 25 March to 10 April 2022. This spring, we’re calling on you to help protect the environment as even small acts on your doorstep make a big difference. We’re looking to inspire thousands of you, our #LitterHeroes across Wales, to join forces to collect and safely dispose of litter from our streets, green spaces and beaches. This year the message is simple. Join in and pledge to pick up as much litter as...

From July 2022, certification, documentary, ID and physical checks are due to be introduced for animal products from the European Union (EU) into Great Britain (GB). The UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) want to start providing businesses with information ahead of further import controls being introduced from July 2022. Defra will be running a series of webinars and Q&A sessions that will provide detailed information on the steps you need...

You need to register for the Plastic Packaging Tax if you’ve manufactured or imported 10 or more tonnes of finished plastic packaging components within the last 12 months, or will do so in the next 30 days. From 1 April 2022 to 30 March 2023, the 12 months threshold will be worked out differently. Plastic Packaging Tax only applies to manufacturers and importers of plastic packaging components which contain less than 30% recycled plastic. Packaging...