We recently hit a significant milestone with the submission of our €6M application under the government Rural Regeneration Development Fund which provides funding for the development and construction of capital projects in towns and villages and rural areas across Ireland. In partnership with Wicklow County Council this submission gives us the opportunity to develop the full site as a single project if successful in securing funds. The submission itself was a significant project over the last six months including:
- Extensive community survey with 522 submissions
- 35 letters of support from community groups, user groups, all four Wicklow TDs, local councillors and sports professionals
- Appointment of engineering consultants (QS and Agronomy) to provide project costings (including trial pits dug in the Bog Meadow)
- Appointment of external consultants for financial analysis, government and local authority policy alignment and business case development
- Wicklow County Council inputs and final signoff of the completed submission
- 250 page submission – Application form, Business Case, Financial analysis, Community consultation report, Support letters, Cost plan – plus a range of accompanying documents and Wicklow County Council approvals
Over the coming months we will continue to build government support for the submission and expect a decision to be made by November. This remains a highly competitive environment and we are now competing with a wide range of projects from government bodies all over the country from tourism initiatives to library developments. For now what we can say is that we have taken our shot and we are in the race. We will pursue a separate smaller submission to fund some elements of the plan via the Community Sports Facilities Fund over the summer months when this scheme Is expected to open. Appreciate all of the support provided from the planning petition, community survey, support letters and various other asks over recent months.