Community spaces to be created in THREE Waterford towns and villages with €700k fund

Over €700,000 has been allocated to Waterford under the latest round of the Town and Village Renewal Scheme. 

Projects in Kill, Lismore and Lemybrien were successfully awarded a share of the funding, according to Waterford Senator John Cummins. 

Two hundred and forty three thousand euro has been allocated to Kill for an integrated community park with integrated seating, play and musical equipment, a performance area and ancillary works including a car park extension within the grounds of the Kill Community Centre. 

Lemybrien has received €214,200 for the development of an interconnected village centre with urban green spaces as health promoting environments. 

Meanwhile, €250,000 has been allocated to Lismore for the regeneration of a derelict building with the Lismore Union Workhouse complex into a community facility for Lismore Men's Shed. 

According to Senator Cummins, over 60 projects have been funded across Waterford since 2016 to the tune of over €4.4 million. 

He said, "Today’s announcement brings total Waterford funding under the scheme to over €5.2 million. This level of funding in our rural towns and villages is having a tangible impact and I want to commend Minister Humphrey’s for prioritising funding through ‘Our Rural Future’ for this purpose, I believe it is money very well spent." 

He added: "I am thrilled for the three communities benefitting from today’s announcement. I count myself lucky that I am able to work with so many excellent community groups on a weekly basis throughout Waterford and the success of these applications is testament to the work these communities do in partnership with Waterford City and County Council.

"While I constantly make strong pitches for funding to Minister Humphreys, along with my Fine Gael council colleagues, without robust applications these representations would fall flat." 

He continued: "I also want to acknowledge the two unsuccessful applicants from this year whom I know will be disappointed with the outcome, but rest assured, I am happy to work with them next year to further develop their applications to ensure a favourable outcome, like I done with the three successful ones this year." 

Announcing the funding, Minister Heather Humphreys said, "I have substantially increased the size of the grants available under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme in recent times and I am delighted to see that communities and local authorities across the country have worked together and put forward really ambitious projects which will make a lasting difference to their towns and villages.

"These projects will breathe new life into our towns and villages and are real life examples of the impact that Our Rural Future is having in communities across the country." 

Photo: Lismore Men's Shed