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The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, today (Thursday 28 April) announced the commencement of a new funding scheme targeting the waste water collection and treatment needs of villages and settlements without access to public waste water services. The scheme is funded by a €50 million commitment under the National Development Plan.
The announcement today by the Minister follows the completion of a review of villages and settlements that do not have access to public waste water infrastructure. This work included consultation with stakeholders and a detailed survey completed by local authorities of villages and settlements in their area not serviced by waste water collection and treatment systems.
The scheme will now open to Local Authorities for application and will stay open for applications until 15 September. There will also be an information workshop for Local Authorities.
Local authorities now have the opportunity to develop early and comprehensive applications for funding under this new scheme which will be included in the department’s overall Multi-Annual Rural Water Programme 2022-2025. This will allow the villages and settlements that will ultimately be approved for funding to have a real and meaningful prospect of a speedier and successful outcome. It is expected that at least ten demonstration projects will be supported under this first round of funding.
The principal policy drivers of this new initiative are to provide opportunities to support the provision of housing in smaller villages which are not currently serviced by collective waste water treatment systems, while reducing the risk to public health and preventing water pollution.
The Minister said:
“The improved waste water services will enable local authorities to work in partnership with the community to enable villages and settlements to be better places to live, work and visit, to support overall government objectives under Housing for All and give practical effect to our vision for a vibrant rural Ireland under Our Rural Future.”
This new measure will provide 85% exchequer funding through the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with the remaining 15% in funding coming from the relevant local authority.
The Minister also said:
“I am delighted to be in a position to allocate funding to allow this important work to be progressed in rural areas, providing a boost to local economies and allowing for sustainable development through compact growth, including housing that is proportionate to the village."
The first phase of funding announced today will focus on areas of most need based on housing and environmental criteria. Local authorities are now being invited to submit proposals for consideration for funding under this new measure.
Under existing government policy, there are a number of commitments to:
Our Rural Future contains Policy Measures to address the water and waste water infrastructural deficits in order to support the revitalisation of rural towns and villages.
In response to Policy Measure 66 (Review the situation in relation to water services for towns and villages that are not currently on the Irish Water network), the department has carried out a review on the waste water policy requirements of villages and similar settlements that do not have access to public waste water infrastructure.
The Rural Water Programme through State funding, delivers improvements to private domestic water services in areas of rural Ireland where there are no public (Irish Water) water services through capital investment and support.
The strategic objective of the Rural Water Programme is, through various measures, to improve the quality, reliability and efficiency of water services for rural dwellers where Irish Water services are not available.
In early 2021 assisted by local authorities the department conducted a baseline survey to establish the numbers, size, national distribution and other environmental impacts of villages and settlements that do not have access to public waste water infrastructure provided by Irish Water. Until the 2021 survey was conducted, the exact scale of villages/settlements without public waste water infrastructure had not been quantified at a national level.
The key criteria for villages and settlements that lack public waste water infrastructure for inclusion in the survey was, that they are expressly designated by name as a settlement in the current County Development Plan.
Analysis of the survey returns indicates that there are some 547 villages/settlements nationally that do not have access to public waste water collection and treatment infrastructure.
The review recommended that, to ensure all public investment for this measure is sustainable, environmentally and economically justified, the initial investment needs to be directed at carefully selected demonstration projects.
A total of €50 million has been committed under the National Development Plan for the period 2022 to 2025.
Local authorities are now being invited to bid for the first cycle of funding under this new measure, A8, Waste Water Collection and Treatment Needs for Villages and Settlements without access to Public Waste Water Services, part of the wider Multi-Annual Rural Water Programme 2022-2025.
The following categorisation will be used for considering demonstration projects under the new funding measure:
The receiving Irish Water network in the nearby town must already have both reserve treatment and network capacity. Alternatively, that it is planned to provide additional capacity under Irish Water’s Capital Investment Plan or its Small Towns and Villages Growth Programme.
This approach avoids the need for the development of a standalone waste water treatment plant at these locations.
The waste water treatment plant to be developed based, appropriate to circumstances, on Irish Water’s sustainable technologies. This would include, for example, nature-based solutions which treat waste water through natural biological processes such as Integrated Constructed Wetlands.
Eligibility for this first tranche of funding is limited to villages and settlements in local authorities’ functional areas that meet the following criteria:
1. Villages/settlements must be expressly listed in the current County Development Plan for the local authority and are a ‘priority location’;
OR
2. Villages/settlements that are not expressly listed in the County Development Plan for the local authority and where, in the opinion of the local authority, a need has been identified and is objectively evidenced. Village/settlements in this situation will only be considered on an exceptional and objectively evidenced basis.
Also for this first tranche of funding, applications for funding are limited to villages and settlements with a ‘core area’ that has at least 150 population equivalent (PE) based on its existing residential population. Full details of Measure A8 are outlined in the Framework document.
The first tranche of funding for the new measure will focus on, and target, the areas of most need. Reflecting this need at local level, local authorities must list their applications for funding, a maximum of two, in priority order. Each application for funding will need to be based on the terms and conditions set out in the framework and circular and also must be accompanied by a feasibility study.
As with previous multi-annual programmes, an Expert Panel set up by the department will oversee the bids evaluation process. The Panel will make recommendations to the Minister on proposed projects for consideration of approval for funding. The department will then notify local authorities of the projects approved by the Minister to be funded as demonstration projects under the new measure.