Community groups urged to apply for funding under Town and Village Renewal Scheme

Community groups and business interests in towns and villages across county Westmeath have until this Friday (May 12) to submit an expression of interest application for funding under the 2017 Town and Village Renewal Scheme, which has been doubled from ten to €20 million since last year.

Details of the Scheme were outlined to last week's meeting of Athlone Municipal District by Director of Services, Barry Kehoe, who said it represents “a huge opportunity” for enhancement and rejuvenation of towns and villages across the county.

Last week's meeting heard that both Athlone and Mullingar will be excluded from the 2017 Scheme on population grounds. The two categories of towns eligible to apply for the Scheme are those with a population of less than 5,000 people and those with a population of between 5,0001 and 10,000 people.

The REDZ Scheme, which did cater for larger towns like Athlone and Mullingar, is no longer available, but Barry Kehoe said the CLAR programme will be coming on stream at a later stage.

The Town and Village Renewal Scheme is an initiative under the Government's Action Plan for Rural Renewal, and was launched in Moate by Arts Minister, Heather Humphreys, at the end of March.

The Scheme will focus on projects that enhance and develop towns and villages socially, economically and culturally, and Barry Kehoe urged all the Municipal District Councillors to make contact with community groups and business interests in their electoral areas to see if they could pinpoint projects which could be put forward for consideration.

“The emphasis in this Scheme is less on public realm and more on the economic impact that a project will have on a town or village, so I would urge every one of you to think of economics before anything else” said the Director of Services.

The meeting heard that only one application can be submitted per town, and 15 applications can be submitted per Local Authority. Among the activities which could receive funding are, craft halls; artisan food markets; town safety and accessibility enhancements; provision or enhancement of leisure facilities such as Town Parks or walking trails; tourism initiatives or projects that support entrepreneurship such as hot desk facilities and digital, creative or enterprise hubs.

Barry Kehoe told the District meeting that up to 80% of the total cost of any individual project will be provided, with the minimum grant being €20,000 and the maximum being €100,000. However, he also added that a higher maximum level of grant aid to the tune of €200,000 will be considered for a limited number of projects where a very robust case can be made to demonstrate exceptionally strong economic benefit to a town.

Last year, a total of seven towns and villages across Westmeath received funding of €380,000 under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, with the biggest allocation going to Kilbeggan (€100,000). Castlepollard and Moate received €70,000. The smallest allocation under the Scheme was €20,000 which went to Streamstown.

 

How to Apply

Expression of Interest Application Forms are available to download from the website of Westmeath County Council www.westmeathcoco.ie They must be completed and returned to Westmeath County Council either by e-mail at: dce@westmeathcoco.ie or by post to: Community Development, Westmeath County Council, Aras an Chontae, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath by this Friday, May 12.

All Expression of Interest Forms will be considered by Westmeath County Council who will then up to 15 proposals for development into detailed applications to the submitted to the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.

All fully completed applications for funding must be submitted to Westmeath County Council by the final deadline of June 30 next, and community groups and business interests are encouraged to work closely with Westmeath County Council in formulating their proposals and applications.