Written answers

Monday, 9 September 2024

Department of Rural and Community Development

Urban Development

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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2039.To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development If she will outline the aggregate investment to date in the Town Centre First Project; if she will highlight some of the greatest achievements to date; and if she will indicate the lessons learnt from the pilot projects in order that a fresh plan to scale up the initiative considerably could now be considered.[35023/24]

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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2059.To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the measures she has taken to incentivise living on Ireland's high streets to date; if she is considering any new innovative policies in conjunction with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to do so; and if she will make a statement on the matter.[35608/24]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2039 and 2059 together.

Launched in 2022, the Town Centre First (TCF) Policy is a major cross-government policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres. TCF supports the Our Rural Future vision for a thriving rural Ireland by setting out a framework to facilitate and resource the regeneration of Irish towns to ensure they are vibrant, viable places to live, work, invest in, and visit.

The TCF policy, a joint initiative by my Department and the Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), encourages innovative proposals for the reuse of vacant and underused residential and other buildings in town centres.

Significant progress has been made since the launch of the Policy towards establishing momentum in achieving its objectives. For example, the establishment of a National TCF Office within the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) which drives the actions under the policy; the appointment of 26 Town Regeneration Officers in each local authority (funded by my Department) which work as central drivers of TCF at a local level; and the establishment of a National Oversight and Advisory Group, which oversees delivery of the TCF policy are important developments in this regard.

In December 2021, I announced €2.6 million in funding to support the development of 26 TCF Plans.These community-based plans are produced by individual Town Teams, drawn from local community and business representatives, that are helping communities develop a vision for their town and identify viable projects to realise that vision. These Town Plans can be viewed on the TCF website at www.towncentrefirst.ie

In February last, I launched a new TCF suite of supports which is providing an additional €4.5 million to support broader efforts to regenerate town centres through a bottom-up approach. The measures supported are for the development of a further 26 town plans, support for the establishment and development of Town Teams, and the completion of Project Development Measure (PDM) projects. All successful projects and towns supported under the TCF suite of supports are available to view on the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/473d3-town-centre-first-policy/. This funding is also supporting the establishment of a further 68 Town Teams nationwide.

As can be seen from the 33 actions contained within the policy, the significance of Town Centre First is that it intended to provide for an integrated policy approach for the development of Irish towns rather than it being a funded programme in and of itself. Central to the success of TCF is the range of support funding in place right across Government.

A number of major government funding streams have now been aligned closely with Town Centre First including programmes such as the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF); my own Department’s Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) and Town and Village Renewal Scheme (TVRS) and; Housing for All Crói Cónaithe (Towns) Fund; ERDF Town Centre First Heritage Revival (THRIVE) Fund; the Town Centre Living Initiative; the Historic Towns Initiative (HTI); and Climate adaptation/retrofitting schemes.

Examples of recent funding announcements include €164m announced for 30 regeneration projects under the Rural Regeneration & Development Fund (RRDF) in May, and €20m under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme (TVRS) in April.

In relation to housing specifically and within the wider framework of Housing For All, Our Rural Future, and Town Centre First, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is responsible for the following suite of measures which are in place to support and incentivise town centre living;

  • The Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund and Vacant Property Refurbishment Grantsupports increased housing supply by bringing vacant and derelict properties back into use. This allows a grant of up to €50,000 for the refurbishment of vacant properties and up to €70,000 for derelict properties, for rental properties and homeowners. Feedback on the grant, which was launched in July 2022, has been very positive with over 8,600 applications received, over 5,400 applications approved and over 480 grants drawn down by the end of Q2 2024.
  • Among a range of schemes addressing vacancy includingRepair and Lease, Buy and Renew, and Local Authority Home Loans, theReady to Build Schememakes serviced sites in towns and villages available to individual purchasers (self-builders) at a discount up to a maximum of €30,000.
  • The First Home Scheme, Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme and Help to Buyare all available to eligible purchasers seeking to acquire new build homes nationally.
  • ‘Town Centre Living’Architectural Design competitions encourage innovative design for social housing within town centres and progress the Town Centre First policy’s objectives of compact growth and town-centre revitalisation.
  • Call 3 of the Urban Regional Development Fund (URDF) provides a €150m revolving fund for local authorities to address long term vacancy and dereliction in large towns and cities. Based on submissions from all 31 local authorities over 1,200 long term vacant buildings located in town and city centres have been approved to date. This is in addition to the significant investment of €1.6 billion under URDF Calls 1 and 2 supporting a wide range of public realm and public infrastructure projects in our cities and large towns.
  • Planning regulations,introduced in 2018 under S.I. No. 30/2018, which exempted certain vacant commercial premises, including ‘over the shop’ type spaces, from requiring planning permission to change to residential purposes have been extended until 2025. The scope of the exemption was also extended to include ‘public houses’. Over these six years from 2018 to 2023, local authorities received 1165 notifications from developers intending to avail of the exemptions. If enacted, this would result in 2716 new homes across the country. There is ongoing collaboration with local authorities to monitor the effectiveness of these planning exemptions, which also support the DHLGH’s Vacancy Activation Programme.
A specific commitment is contained within the TCF policy to carry out a review of the effectiveness of the policy 3 years from the policy’s launch, which will be mid-2025. Any learnings that emerge from that process will be used to inform future decisions regarding the future of the initiative. In the meantime, my Department remains fully committed to the success of the Town Centre First policy and will continue to work closely with colleagues in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to deliver on the goal of revitalising rural towns and villages.

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