The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF), which was launched in 2018, is providing part-funding for local authority led projects that will enable a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of our cities and large towns, while also ensuring that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant places in which people choose to live and work, as well as to invest and to visit. To date, there have been two calls for proposals under the URDF.
In 2019 approval in principle and provisional funding allocations issued in respect of the 87 major projects across the country for which just under €300 million has already been allocated. A second call for proposals was launched last year, and following a rigorous assessment process I have recently approved a further tranche of 45 projects which will augment the existing pipeline of transformative projects already being advanced throughout the country. There are no plans at present for a further call for proposals under the URDF.
The second call for proposals was launched in January 2020 and a copy of the circular setting out the objectives of the Fund and application conditions together with the application form and assessment criteria have been available on my Departments website since then. To assist local authorities with the application process my Department also hosted a number of workshops to provide information on the purpose of the URDF programme and the types of proposals that would be considered for support. In all 76 proposals were received, with every local authority submitting at least one application, and involving competing demands with a total combined value exceeding €2 billion. All applications were assessed in terms of their alignment with the intended purpose of the URDF programme and also their viability before being considered for approval.
Dublin City Council submitted four applications under Call 2 of the URDF of which two were successful.
€174,300,554 has been provisionally approved for Dublin City Council's successful Call 2 projects - North Inner City Concept Area 1 (€121,285,388) and South Inner City Concept Area 1 (€53,015,166). This is in addition to €15,781,960 already approved for 8 projects under Call 1 bringing total URDF support for projects in the Dublin City area to €190,082,514 over both URDF calls.
Ultimately, Dublin City Council’s application in respect of proposals related to the implementation of the Park-West Cherry Orchard Local Area Plan 2019 was deemed unsuccessful following the comprehensive assessment process. A copy of the detailed assessment of this proposal will soon be provided to the applicant, Dublin City Council, following which my officials will be available to provide any further feedback and information required by City Council officials on the assessment.
