Vol. 521 No. 4
187 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the level and range of facilities and assistance that exist for the provision of community centres throughout the country; if standardisation of application form exists; the contact points for communities or organisations wishing to put forward and follow through such proposals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17190/00]
In so far as my Department and bodies under the aegis of my Department are concerned there are a number of schemes and ways whereby assistance may be made available for community type facilities.
The provision of open spaces, recreational facilities and amenity areas, including community centres, specifically in local authority housing schemes is a matter for individual local authorities in the first instance. However, appropriate facilities of this kind are, on a limited basis, funded as part of the overall cost of a housing scheme from my Department's capital allocations. This funding is related to the size and nature of the individual schemes and my Department's social housing design guidelines contain guidance for local authorities in this regard.
Funding, including funding provided from the national lottery, is made available to assist the provision of communal facilities in new or existing voluntary housing projects. Local authorities are responsible for determining whether individual proposals comply with the qualifying conditions and the submission of applications to my Department. Authorities are advised in guidelines issued by my Department to seek to have such grant aided communal facilities used to serve broader local community needs such as meals-on-wheels, recreation and social services where it would be compatible with the needs of the residents of the project.
Under the Regional Operational Programmes, 2000-2006, funding will be provided by my Department to local authorities to implement a wide range of urban and village renewal projects, including, where appropriate, the provision of community facilities. In addition, under the Peace II Operational Programme, 2000-2004, funding will be made available by my Department to county council led task forces in the six Border counties for locally based regeneration, including, where appropriate, assistance towards the provision of community facilities. These operational programmes have been submitted to the EU Commission for approval and a decision is awaited.
While these would be different application forms, eligibility criteria, etc, for the different types of communal facilities for which assistance is available, the relevant local authority should be consulted regarding the provision of facilities in their area in any case.
