Funding will target small rural settlements in Mid Ulster

Mid Ulster District Council’s policy and resources committee has agreed to provide 10 per cent match funding to a Stormont-backed, Covid-19 small settlements regeneration programme.
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At a meeting of the committee, members were told three government departments, the Department for Communities (DfC), Department for Infrastructure (DfI) and the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) are proposing funding the scheme targeting rural settlements with 1,000 – 4,999 inhabitants.

Council has received a draft discussion paper setting out arrangements for the proposed programme and it is noted settlements with a population of less than 1,000 are not precluded from the programme provided the projects identified align with programme outcomes and demonstrate value for money.

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Local authorities, in conjunction with key stakeholders, will be responsible for the development of their own small settlement regeneration plan and in January of this year, the development committee considered and approved a draft regeneration plan.

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Draperstown

The indicative allocation of funding for Mid Ulster in this programme is 90 per cent funding for capital costs up to a maximum of £2,590,000 and 90 per cent funding for revenue costs up to a max of £191,000 for an overall total of £2,781,000.

To access this funding, Council will be required to provide match funding of 10 per cent. According to the report, £309,000 will be required from Council’s capital reserves to provide this match funding. A letter of offer of funding is expected to be issued by DfC before the end of March while Council must endeavour to deliver the regeneration plan by March 2023 with all funding expected to be spent within the next 12 months.

A proposal to allocate 10 per cent match funding from Council Capital Reserves to the Covid-19 small settlements regeneration programme, subject to approval of funding from DfC and permit Council’s officer team to appoint an ICT team to work up design details for the project deliverables was put forward by DUP Cllr Kim Ashton and seconded by Sinn Fein Cllr Dominic Molloy.