Ms Maria Graham:

I am grateful for the invitation to expand on the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, which was touched on in my statement to the committee on 25 January. As the Chairman mentioned, I am joined by Ms Lisa Clifford, principal officer in the URDF section, and Mr. Stewart Logan, senior planning adviser.

As members have the full statement which contains some examples, I might just focus on the key points now. Since our last appearance before the committee, the Government has launched the Town Centre First policy, which provides an important enabling framework for the development of towns. While towns face many challenges, there are also many opportunities to reimagine and revitalise many areas. A number of structures are being put in place to lead and support this initiative, which is fundamentally about enabling towns and their communities to define the vision for the future of their town. We are working with colleagues in the Department of Rural and Community Development to implement this policy.

For towns with populations of over 10,000, the URDF provides an important source of funding to realise these ambitions. The URDF is one of the four funds launched in 2018 as part of Project Ireland 2040 and the national development plan, and is specifically focused on implementing the national planning framework and that alignment of special and investment plans to deliver on a timely basis the investment required to provide the housing, jobs and infrastructure of the present and future population which is likely to increase by 1 million by 2040.

The URDF has proved to be a game changer in the promotion of co-ordinated investment in the renewal and redevelopment of cities and towns. Under the NDP review published last year, a commitment was made to extend the time of the fund from 2027 out to 2030. It is a €2 billion fund and there will be an associated additional investment for that extra period.

There have been two calls to date. Over €300 million was allocated to 87 projects in call 1. Many of these were master planning and initial kick-off projects. A total of 45 projects got €1.3 billion in funding approved under call 2. There were some delays to project roll-out because they were impacted by the Covid-19 construction restrictions.

Activity is now increasing and we expect the build to increase significantly in the coming years.

I will focus on cities and towns, in particular. Many of the very high value projects have been approved for metropolitan areas. They are projects of significant scale. In total €1.286 billion has been approved for metropolitan areas and key driver towns. Some examples, such as the Cork docklands, are set out in the statement. It would be true to say that both the nature and the scale of the projects and the funding approach are transformative. It provides an integrated, dynamic and responsive way to underpin the national planning framework with a particular focus on compact growth. The approach brings together a number of strands of public investment, such as transport and water services, to deliver an overall integrated urban development proposal. As the Chairman said, the projects deliver new energy, new life and opportunities for economic activity and residential development in parts of cities with high levels of dereliction, under-use and a need for transformative change.

In addition, €330 million has also been approved for projects in towns under the URDF to date, supporting a wide range of projects which are catalysts for change. Again, a couple of examples are set out in the statement as an illustration. The Department has been very impressed by the richness and diversity of projects put forward by local authorities under the URDF. We have supported the application stage through the hosting of workshops, including one hosted by the IDA, given the importance of place making to the economic vibrancy of towns and the offering they can make in enterprise and employment terms.

In regard to the funding approach, projects are initially examined by a project appraisal board which is chaired by the Department and by Ms Clifford, who is with us. That comprises a range of funding Departments and external expertise. This is a very useful step in ensuring proposals meet the fund criteria and provide additionality to other funding streams. As set out in the NDP review and reflecting our experience to date, the next rounds of funding will separately target cities and towns given the different needs and scales of projects. The next call will be for projects in towns later this year and it will align with the Town Centre First policy launched in February. The criteria will also specifically identify the tackling of vacancy, as outlined in Housing for All and Town Centre First to encourage the activation of vacant properties. The Department will also move from a competitive call basis, which was a feature of the funding to date and was important in the early stage, to now work with local authorities to bring the next generation of projects forward and ensure a steady pipeline of suitable projects. It will also ensure there is a good spread geographically of those projects, particularly in the light of the Town Centre First plans that will be emerging in towns around the country and to ensure the activation of residential development in strategic areas.

The combination of policies through Town Centre First reflecting the objectives of the national planning framework, matched with substantial funding available through the URDF, gives a real opportunity to deliver improvements to the liveability of cities and towns and make a real difference to the social and economic sustainability and development. We are happy to take any questions that committee members may have.