BACD receives €60,500 for town action plan kick start

L-R: Jacinta Divilly, Seamus Duffy, Mike O’Brien & Lyn Donnelly

Ballinasloe Area Community Development received a welcome boost from the Government this afternoon with the news of funding for the commencement of it's Town Benchmarking Action Plan; with €60,500 from the REDZ Pilot Scheme.

​The Area Development Company set up the Town Action Team after last summer's pivotal Benchmarking Report by Chris Wade's UK based - "People and Places Partnership" Consultancy group. The Town Team - supported by the Ballinasloe Credit Union and Galway County Council have been working on the REDZ application plan and the Action Plan for over 12 months now and were thrilled when Minister Ann Phelan came to the AGM of the Company in Spring of this year to be appraised on the work and plans.

Ballinasloe was the best funded application in all of the six applicants from County Galway.

Town Team Facilitator Jacinta Divilly stated "This is huge boost not alone to the projects, we as a wider community have prioritised for investment but also for the strategic way in which we have gone about realising a new vision for our future and economic well being. I am so happy for the voluntary members of the team who given a huge amount of hours into this process that now have the resources and endorsement of the State - that this is the new way forward."

B.A.C.D. Chair, Seamus Duffy in welcoming the announcement wished to thank publicly the Manager and team of the Development Company - Mrs. Lyn Donnelly for the huge effort she had invested in the compilation and launch of the Benchmarking Action Plan and the official application. "We as an organisation have been quietly working in partnership with those who have the ability and interest to help in the background - in selling the positives of a vibrant and resilient community that is not without our challenges but we have a route map to over come them."

"We have a series of short, medium and longterm priorities which this funding will allow us to advance more quickly with and we are grateful to Minister Phelan and indeed Alan Kelly in backing our ideas and vision for how we can move towards a more vibrant locale for all of our citizens and visitors alike."

Minister Phelan added, "I am absolutely dfelighted to announce the funding allocations for the REDZ pilot scheme today. The quality of the applications and level of interest in the pilot scheme was such that I have made additional funding available so that each qualifying project will be offered at least 50% of the funding they applied for. I am happy to announce that 26 pilot projects, rather than the original 18, on a regional basis and at different levels of scale will receive 100% of the funding applied for and the 25 remaining projects that qualified will be offered 50% of the funding applied for. I have no doubt, that these projects will make a real difference in the lives of many rural communities.

The Minister concluded "I am confident that these resources couples with the €30 million for the rural towns and villages renewal scheme announced yesterday are just the beginning of a process of rural renewal regeneration and I look forward to hearing about the visiting many of the projects as the come to fruition."

The current goals of the town team’s work are, in summary;

• A livelier and surprising local town that draws in people to socialise and spend more often, including distinctive comparison retail offer.
• An activity town - ready to achieve now if activities are organised as market has cash but is less discerning for food and drink.
• A heritage town - dependent on town and building enhancements, more heritage attractions open in town and surrounding area and greater variety of higher quality hospitality. Distinctive comparison retail part of offer too.
• Their immediate priority is to make Ballinasloe into a better local town, including widening its appeal to families and young people - the town’s future customers who are readily drawn elsewhere. This involves improving the town centre experience, retail offer, local services and events. The belief is that if they get this right, the benefits in terms of spend, jobs and wider wellbeing will follow.

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Balinasloe Town Team: Val Colleran, Colm Croffy, Jacinta Divilly, Lyn Donnelly, Aidan Donohue, Seamus Duffy, Tara Galvin, Carmel Grealy, Paula Harley, Kate Murray, Mike O’Brien, Pádraig Ó Ceithearnaigh & Ger Tully
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GALWAY County REDZ Allocations Announced 29th Sept 2015              
Galway -   Ballinasloe        €60,500
Galway -   Gort                    €47,000
Galway -   Tuam                  €25,000
Galway -   Carraroe            €25,000
Galway -   Glenamaddy    €25,000
Galway -   Oranmore         €25,000

Click on the following link to read more about People and Places and their work with the Town Team: ​​
​http://people-places.co.uk/town-talent-spotting-and-the-f-factors/

Click here to read and review the Town Action Plan: http://www.ballinasloe.ie/uploads/4/3/1/7/43175431/appendix_2__town_benchmarking_action_plan__2_.pdf