Cllr. Declan Doocey, Mayor of Waterford welcomes the announcement by Minister Ring of the allocation of funding under Town and Village Renewal Scheme 2018

The Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring TD, today (5th October 2018) announced that 224 rural towns and villages across the country are set to benefit from over €21 million in funding under the 2018 Town and Village Renewal Scheme. Waterford has benefitted in 9 rural towns and villages and has been awarded in excess €750,000.

The 2018 Town and Village Renewal Scheme, which was launched in April this year, focuses on projects which can help to enhance rural towns and villages, with a particular emphasis on stimulating economic development. Funding awarded to individual towns and villages this year generally ranges from €20,000 to €100,000, with 30 projects receiving between €100,000 and €200,000 for more ambitious proposals.

Examples of Waterford projects being supported in today’s announcement are:

• €100,000 for the upgrade of the Pilgrim Path Walk at Ardmore.
• €64,000 for the erection of interactive and interpretive signage in An Rinn.
• €100,000 for the restoration of the Station House and Signal Box and associated Public Realm works at Kilmacthomas.
• €96,000 to create a Cycle/walk link from Waterford Greenway to Kilmeaden village
• €80,000 awarded to the Waterford Estuary project to upgrade and extend the Cliff Walk.

Welcoming the funding Councillor Declan Doocey, Mayor of the City and County of Waterford said: “This is really positive news for nine of our towns and villages all across Waterford and the allocation of this funding under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme is an important part of the Government’s work to rejuvenate rural Ireland and is having a significant impact on towns and villages across the country”

The Town and Village Renewal Scheme is a key part of the Government’s Action Plan for Rural Development. Details of the successful projects under the 2018 Town and Village Renewal Scheme will be published on the website of the Department of Rural and Community Development, www.drcd.gov.ie, following notification to the Local Authorities.

ENDS

Note to editors:

The Town and Village Renewal scheme is an initiative under the Government’s Action Plan for Rural Development, Realising our Rural Potential, and is part of a suite of national and local support measures to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout Ireland. It is funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development and is administered by the Local Authorities.

Under the 2018 scheme, up to 80% of the total cost for each approved project will be provided by the Department, with the remaining 20% being provided either through community contribution and/or the Local Authority.

A wide variety of projects have been approved under the 2018 scheme.  These projects have been identified by local community groups and businesses, in conjunction with their Local Authorities.  Projects approved range from employment initiatives to tourism amenities, and other measures aimed to help make small towns and villages more attractive and more sustainable places in which to live and work.

The Town and Village Renewal Scheme was launched in the second half of 2016 with a budget of €10 million.  A total of 170 projects were approved under the scheme in 2016.  A further 281 projects were approved for a total of €21.6 million under the 2017 scheme. Today’s announcement brings the number of projects approved under the scheme since 2016 to more than 670.

See recipients of funding under 2018 Town and Village Renewal Scheme at the below link: