Dessie Ellis
Question:265. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his policy on urban regeneration. [17262/16]
View answerTuesday, 21 June 2016
Questions (265)
Written answers
The new Programme for Partnership Government sets out the ambitious priority attached to urban regeneration by the new Government, with a series of specific actions set out therein as to how it is proposed to facilitate the regeneration of our urban centres.
In this context, I have established a working group of officials (comprising senior representatives from my Department, local authorities and other relevant actors ) to bring forward proposals for new urban regeneration measures as early as possible. In this regard, it is intended that the new measures will complement the existing regeneration programme under the Social Housing Capital Programme, as well as other social regeneration initiatives already under way. The Group meetings will be chaired by my colleague, Minister of State Damien English, TD, who has responsibility for urban renewal policy.
The series of specific actions set out in the Programme for Partnership Government are examples of the Government’s commitment and approach to regenerating our urban centres, many of which were adversely impacted by our recent economic difficulties. In this context, the Government will seek to introduce a new Town and Village Renewal Scheme to support the revitalisation of our towns and villages and improve the living and working environment of communities. Using the €30 million available to local authorities for town and village regeneration from this year, it is envisaged that the scheme will, among other things, particularly seek to increase the attractiveness and sustainability of our towns and villages as places to live and work.
In addition to this new Scheme, it is also intended under the new Programme for Partnership Government to examine a series of further initiatives, including:
- the introduction of a similar scheme to the ‘Living City Initiative’ to regenerate urban centres and villages throughout Ireland (Year 1 action),
- the establishment of a national register of derelict sites, in addition to the new vacant site levy, to bring vacant and underutilised sites into beneficial use for housing and urban regeneration purposes (Year 2 action),
- the mandating of local authorities with better land management powers (Year 2 action),
- reclassifying and incentivising the use of underutilised or vacant areas over ground floor premises in urban areas, for both residential and commercial use (Year 1 action), and
- examining the scope to reform the Derelict Sites Act to tackle the under-use and hoarding of derelict land by the State, semi-State and private sectors (Year 1 action).
In terms of existing measures already in place, my Department’s current Regeneration Programme targets the country’s most disadvantaged communities, i.e. those defined by the most extreme social exclusion, unemployment and anti-social behaviour. My Department currently supports an ambitious programme of large-scale regeneration projects in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, encompassing social housing improvements as well as social/community and economic renewal, as well as a number of smaller-scale projects in Tralee, Sligo and Dundalk. As outlined, the aim of the programme is to seek to address the causes of disadvantage in these communities through a holistic programme of physical, social and economic regeneration.
Under the current Programme, the 2016 allocation for existing commitments on regeneration projects is €50 million. In the Dublin City area, two new large regeneration projects (Dolphin House and St. Teresa’s Gardens) are expected to move to construction under the Programme in 2016, with a number of further regeneration projects in the pipeline.
In the context of the priority being attached to urban regeneration by the current Government, I will be aiming to provide increased funding in 2017 and beyond for a range of measures that will address deep-rooted disadvantage, while simultaneously developing an approach to urban regeneration that empowers people to work together to improve their communities, to reduce poverty, disadvantage and inequality. It is intended that these new measures will also include strengthening the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) as well as reactivating funding to areas covered by the RAPID (Revitalising Areas through Planning, Investment and Development) Programme through the local authorities.