Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 April 2022
79. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide an update regarding the placement of town regeneration officers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17895/22]
View answerI wish to ask about the establishment of town regeneration officers as outlined in the Town Centre First policy.
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The Government recently published "Town Centre First - A Policy Approach for Irish Towns". This publication represents a major new policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres. It contains 33 actions that will give our towns the tools and resources they need to become more viable and attractive places in which to live, work, socialise and run a business.
Action No. 3 of the new policy refers to the provision of town regeneration officers, who will be appointed in local authorities to drive the implementation of the town centre first policy. Town regeneration officers will be crucial in managing the implementation of the policy at a local level and ensuring the development and implementation of Town Centre First plans. The role of the town regeneration officers is clearly outlined in the policy. I was delighted to secure additional funding of €2 million for these posts in budget 2022. As a result, it is envisaged that a town regeneration officer will be appointed in local authority areas across the country.
A national Town Centre First office will drive the delivery of many of the recommendations outlined in the policy and support the co-ordinated roll-out of the policy by local authorities, town regeneration officers and town teams. My Department has agreed the structure of and funding for the national implementation office and the town regeneration officers with local authorities. The first step is the recruitment of the head of the national implementation office, which will be progressed shortly, and the recruitment of town regeneration officers will follow on from this in the coming weeks.
I understand that these town regeneration officers will be recruited local authority by local authority, which more than likely means that someone external will be brought in. That is welcome because we will need someone within the local authorities to focus on this and drive the Town Centre First policy, which is a good policy. If it does what it is supposed to, it will make a significant difference to town centres across the State. It will tackle the levels of vacancy and dereliction that have, in some cases, been there for a long time. Many towns across Roscommon and Galway have not recovered from the 2008 crash. They were then hit with Covid and, to a lesser extent, Brexit. They have suffered, so they need a policy like this to bring life back to their centres.
Where will the national Town Centre First office be located or has that been determined yet?
No. Next week, we will advertise for the position of the head of the national Town Centre First office. I am not sure where the office will be located, but I am sure a space is being organised for it somewhere. In a few weeks' time, we will ask local authorities to hire town regeneration officers. It is a good job with an attractive remuneration package.
We are putting these structures in place because we have many different Government schemes that are targeted at supporting our towns and villages.
For example, in my Department there is the streetscape scheme, in addition to the town and village renewal scheme and the rural regeneration development fund. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has the repair and lease scheme, the urban regeneration fund and the Croí Cónaithe scheme, which will be announced shortly by the Minister. We want a joined-up and co-ordinated approach. We want a plan with local engagement and we want the town regeneration officer to engage with the local town teams, the local chamber of commerce, businesses and residents. This is very much the bottom-up approach. I want all the people working together because sometimes they are inclined to go off in different directions. We will get them working together. The town centre first regeneration officer will be the focal point in that regard.
The position for the person in that head office will be advertised next week. When does the Minister foresee that local authorities will begin recruiting? When does she see that part of the process being finalised?
As I said, I am expecting that in a few weeks we will ask local authorities to hire the people to get them in place as soon as possible. As the Deputy knows, funding was also provided by my Department to consider a specific town in every single county. Some €100,000 was provided to look at that. The town regeneration officers will work with all the towns and villages in their area. It will not be specific to the one town that got the funding. As I am sure the Deputy knows, Strokestown got that money in her constituency. We want those who got the funding to look at the different aspects of their town and we want the plan. I was in a village near me last night, Newbliss, where a plan was launched. Again, towns and villages are going nowhere if they do not have these plans. We have been funding plans in a number of different places. Some towns are very good, while others are a little more disjointed. The role of the town regeneration officer will be to pull them all together and then draw down the different funding schemes that are available.
