Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

271. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update under Housing for All to targeted funding via the urban regeneration and development fund and rural regeneration and development fund to support the town centre first approach, as part of the wider objectives for the regeneration of cities, towns and rural areas. [7135/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Town Centre First, jointly developed by my Department and the Department of Rural and Community Development, sets out 33 actions which will provide a co-ordinated framework across established national policy objectives (in particular the National Planning Framework, Housing for All and Our Rural Future), to address the decline in the health of our towns and sets out actions to regenerate and revitalise them.

The Town Centre First Policy was launched on 4 February 2022 and provides a co-ordinated, whole-of-government policy framework to proactively address the decline in the health of towns across Ireland and support measures to regenerate and revitalise them.

Key to Town Centre First (TCF) are local communities and local businesses who now have the opportunity to reimagine and shape the future of their town/village through the development of a Town Centre First Plan with the support of a dedicated Town Regeneration Officer and their Local Authority.

The TCF Plans will identify challenges, actions and integrated responses across a number of themes (business/commercial; community/cultural; housing; built environment; heritage). The TCF Plans will be action and project orientated in nature and will assist towns in accessing a range of potential funding programmes available for town regeneration across a number of government departments and agencies. The development and delivery of TCF Plans will be supported by a network of Local Authority Town Regeneration Officers and a National Town Centre First Office, which is being established within the Local Government Management Agency. In phase one, a TCF Plan will be developed by June 2023 in 18 towns across 18 counties.

The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) is already providing funding for 132 proposals comprising almost 400 subprojects that will enable compact growth and a greater proportion of residential development to be delivered within the existing built footprints of both our cities and large towns, while also ensuring that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant places in which people choose to live and work, as well as to invest and to visit. To this end, the fund has already provided €333m in funding to town regeneration projects since its inception in 2018 through two calls, as well as committing over €1.2 billion to the cities and the five regional growth centres identified in the National Planning Framework.

On 30 January, I announced the third call for proposals under the URDF. While the URDF programme will continue to support the progression of approved proposals and projects through their project lifecycles, the third round of funding support, which is a key action in the Government’s Vacant Homes Action Plan 2023-2026, has been specifically designed to address long term vacancy and dereliction across our URDF cities and towns and the acceleration of the provision of residential accommodation. This initiative is also in support of objectives under Housing for All and the Town Centre First policy. It is proposed that a revolving fund of up to €150m of URDF support will be made available to the local authority sector by way of individual allocations to each local authority to be used to tackle long term vacancy and dereliction. Further details in this regard can be accessed on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/press-release/42854-minister-obrien-launches-new-vacant-homes-action-plan-and-details-of-new-150-million-urdf-vacancy-fund/#vacant-homes-action-plan

The Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF), which is the responsibility of my colleague the Minister for Rural and Community Development, seeks to support ambitious and strategic projects in towns and villages with a population of less than 10,000 which have the potential to transform rural economies and communities and achieve the objectives of Our Rural Future. Minister Humphreys announced funding of €115m for 23 projects from the fourth call for Category 1 applications in November 2022. This call had a strong focus on supporting projects that will assist in revitalising rural towns and villages through planned, sustainable regeneration and development including addressing vacancy and the re-use of heritage and other existing buildings in alignment with the Town Centre First approach. In total, the RRDF has now provided €395m for 215 projects worth €542m. Further information in this regard can be accessed on the website of the Department of Rural and Community Development at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/press-release/f7d2d-our-rural-future-minister-humphreys-announces-115million-for-23-landmark-rural-regeneration-projects-nationwide/