Town and Village Renewal Scheme 2023
Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys launched the 2023 Town and Village Renewal Scheme on the 21st of July 2023. This €15 million Fund is designed to revitalise and regenerate our rural towns and villages.
The programme is funded under Project Ireland 2040 as part of “Our Rural Future–Ireland’s Rural Development Policy 2021-2025“
The scheme is administered through the local authorities, who are required to work closely with local communities and local businesses to develop and implement proposals. The Scheme typically funds rural towns and villages with a population of up to 10,000 people. Larger rural towns with a population of up to 15,000 people may be eligible where the application is particularly strong and the project will have a significant impact on the town in question. The Fund will support dozens of projects nationwide with a focus on tackling vacancy and dereliction and bringing additional footfall into the centre of our towns. Grants will be made available to support the development of outdoor projects such as plazas, parks, playgrounds and green spaces. Under the initiative, funding will be provided to local authorities to acquire land for regeneration purposes. Farmer and artisan markets will be supported under the scheme and there will also be funding ring-fenced for projects on our offshore island communities.
Priority will be afforded to projects that align with the objectives of Our Rural Future, Town Centre First and Our Living Islands with a focus on:
· investment in infrastructure to support town and village centre markets
· bringing vacant and derelict buildings back into use a multi-purpose community spaces, or to address remote working needs
· investing in the development of parks, green spaces and recreational amenities in town centres
· a new option to allow local authorities to acquire plots of land to enable development of town regeneration, such as town parks and plazas
· refurbishment of existing community centres
Applications
The closing date for the submission of applications to the DRCD under the scheme is 10 November 2023 nationally.
Each Local Authority is invited to submit applications of varying scale under the 2023 Scheme as follows:
i. 4 applications - funding €20,000 to €250,000
ii. 1 application - funding €20,000 to €500,000
The maximum grant level has been set at 90% of the total cost of a project under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme. The remaining 10% match funding must be contributed by the Local Authority and/or the community and/or Philanthropic contributions.
Categories of Towns
The 2023 scheme will be targeted at three categories of rural Towns/Villages as follows:
Category 1: Towns and villages with a population of up to 5,000 people.
Category 2: Towns with a population of 5,001 to 10,000 people.
Category 3: Larger towns with a population of up to 15,000 people may be eligible where the application is of a high quality and outlines a strong need for the investment, good value for money and positive outcomes that will have a substantial impact on the town
The primary focus of the scheme will be on villages and towns with a population of up to 5,000
(Category 1). These towns/villages will receive at least 60% of funding available. For the purposes of the 2023 Town and Village Renewal Scheme, a village is defined as a small settlement of houses, smaller in size than a town, clustered around at least one central point of interest such as a school, church, shop, pub, community centre etc.
Expressions of interest are invited in respect of rural towns and villages in the County such as the villages of Kilternan, Glencullen and Stepaside
The closing dates for receipt of completed expressions of interest is Friday 6th October 2023.
Following receipt of Expressions of Interest from interested local groups that meet the criteria, applications will be submitted to the DRCD for approval.
The closing date for the submission of applications by DLRCC to the DRCD is Friday 10th November
For further details please see the scheme outline at the link below :
https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/264494/858ff3a8-09d1-4733-aa68-5bc96e73ade2.pdf#page=null
If you have any queries please contact the Community Department on (01) 205 4893 or email community@dlrcoco.ie