Town And Village Renewal Scheme 2024
The Town Centre First policy is a major cross-government policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction, and breathe new life into our town centres. It supports “Our Rural Future”, Ireland’s rural development policy which is integral to our national economic, social, cultural, and environmental well-being. It advocates for a holistic, place-based approach to sustainable rural development.
The policy seeks to support towns of all sizes, recognising each town is unique and diverse and acknowledges that a “one size fits all” approach will not achieve sustainable and thriving communities.
Recognising that additional supports are required to achieve the Town Centre First policy goals, a Suite of Measures was announced by Minister Heather Humphries to support rural towns and villages. Each measure is accompanied by its own eligibility criteria, thereby targeting a number of towns per county.
These measures will compliment other funding initiatives within the Department, including the Town and Village Renewal Scheme and the Rural Regeneration Development Fund.
These supports will ensure resources are effectively allocated and provides clear support to local communities and town teams in leading the revitalisation of their towns and villages.
Cork County Council is now seeking Expressions of Interest for the following:
Project Development Measure (PDM):
The purpose of this measure is to assist local authorities to contribute to a pipeline of significant, well-developed projects which might be subsequently progressed to construction stage, subject to the availability of further funding.
Local authorities, in consultation with the Town Regeneration Office and local communities, may detail two project applications under this measure up to a maximum value of €50,000 per application and a maximum funding amount of €100,000 at a grant rate of 90% of the total project costs per project application and a minimum match funding rate of 10% of the total project costs.
Funding may be awarded for costs such as detailed design, planning, procurement, professional fees, assessments, and other development costs.
The development of these proposals must be undertaken in consultation with the appointed TRO and the local town/village community and business interests. Full involvement by community interests and/or business interests will be an essential feature of successful projects. Ideally, projects will have been identified as part of a town plan, health check or similar study, produced for the town or village. Projects that cannot demonstrate that a consultative process has been undertaken to ascertain the views of local community and businesses will not be permitted.
The closing date for completed Expression of Interest forms is 5.00pm, Wednesday 20th March 2024, and can be emailed to townandvillagerenewal@corkcoco.ie or posted to Town Regeneration Office, Cork County Council, Floor 11, County Hall, Cork, T12R2NC.
Expressions of Interest can only be accepted on the prescribed Expression of Interest Form.
Expressions of Interest received after the closing date and time will not be accepted.