The Town Centre First policy is aimed at restoring vibrancy to communities and towns across the country. The venture focuses on revitalising town centres by bringing vacant and derelict buildings back into use, and creating new opportunities for unused land that will encourage more people to live and work in rural towns and villages.
The Green Party has long advocated for a Town Centre First approach to rural regeneration, and speaking at the launch earlier this month Minister of State with responsibility for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan TD said that, “This is an important step towards empowering our communities to create towns and villages we want to live in and be proud of. Architecturally, culturally and socially, the Irish town is unique in European terms. For far too long, we have turned our backs on this important heritage.”
“The Government’s Town Centre First policy seeks to support, enable and inspire communities to be active participants in the heritage-led regeneration of their towns and villages. This in turn will reinvigorate independent retail and promote town centre living, supporting local economic resilience through the co-creation of liveable, vibrant, nature-friendly urban spaces. It will also help put communities at the centre of the planning and decision-making process through citizen-led ‘Town Teams’. They will be supported by a dedicated Town Regeneration Officer and the local authorities and backed with government funding,” he said.
Senator Róisín Garvey summed up, saying that, “Vibrant liveable villages and towns brings security, it brings safety, it brings camaraderie, and it brings that social glue that we all crave as humans.”
LSL News.