Clár 2021 Innovation Measure

Cork County Council is delighted to receive funding from the Department of Rural and Community Development, under the CLÁR 2021 Scheme for Innovation Measures. Support from this initiative will be used for the purchase of a drone to be used by Area Engineers in the West Cork Municipal District to survey inaccessible areas.

The Area Engineer's office is responsible for a wide range of activities from road construction and maintenance to coastal protection, burial grounds, amenity and recreational facilities. In some instances, there are hazards associated with the task, such as assessing the extent of damage to a coastal road or estimating the full extent of a flooded area. In other situations, it may be necessary to assess the extent of works required. In many such circumstances, a drone flight would reduce risks to staff and will allow us to survey a wider area in less time.

The CLÁR Innovation Measure is targeted at piloting new ideas which address specific challenges faced by communities in CLÁR areas, including those associated with rural isolation, village decline, service accessibility, population change, social disadvantage and marginalisation in communities within the CLÁR areas. This measure seeks to support fresh ideas and new ways of working that might not otherwise be identified or supported. The 2021 CLÁR Programme is a key part of the Government’s five-year rural development strategy, Our Rural Future.