The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly (EMRA) held its URBACT Info Day at the Custom House last Thursday, the 25th of January. The event was well attended with local authority staff from throughout Ireland joining us on the day.

The day begun with some networking over tea and coffee during registration, before hearing from Ireland’s Contact Point Karl Murphy about what the day had in store. Bernie Roe, Assistant Director for EU, and Corporate Affairs at the EMRA spoke about the EMRA’s functions with a focus on why the URBACT and European Urban Initiative (EUI) Contact Point roles were of importance to the work of the Assembly, including allowing us to work across our 31 local authorities and helping in the delivery of the regions’ spatial and economic strategies.

Pauline Riordan, Planning Adviser (DHLGH), spoke about the national planning context, implementation, and other funding opportunities. This led nicely into presentations from both Karl and Naïma Jomni (URBACT Secretariat) about URBACT’s impact in Ireland and the details of the recently opened call for Innovation Transfer Networks. It remains open until March 20th at 2pm! The audience later enjoyed hearing URBACT testimonials from Aoife Sheridan, Senior Executive Officer at Fingal County Council and Lorraine O’ Connor, Town Regeneration Officer at Longford County Council. Aoife and Lorraine have vast experience in URBACT projects. Currently, Aoife is Lead Partner on the EcoCore network and Lorraine is a project partner on the U.R. Impact network.

 

Aoife and Lorraine spoke openly about the positive impact URBACT has had on them, their staff, and the work of their local authority. Both encouraged those in the audience thinking about being part of URBACT to get involved! You can read more about the themes of the current call here.

Later following a networking lunch, an expert panel of Aoife, Lorraine, Pauline, and Naïma was formed, and using the interactive tool Mentimeter, Karl moderated a session including a series of reflections and questions being put to the panel for their responses. This session generated great interest and the panel comprehensively addressed the questions submitted by the audience.

Before the Info Day concluded, Karl Murphy presented the EUI programme offering. EMRA was appointed as Contact Point for the Programme late last year and both URBACT and the EUI jointly offers a menu of options for all our local authorities throughout Ireland to help foster sustainable urban development.

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You can reach out anytime to Karl Murphy, EMRA at kmurphy@emra.ie to chat further about either of the programmes.

The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly were joint winners of the IPI Planning Awards 2023 under the Research and Innovation category for the Regional Development Monitor.

The Irish Planning Institute (IPI) 2023 Planning Awards took place in Clontarf Castle on 28th September. This year’s Planning Awards recognised innovation and excellence in Irish planning. The Eastern & Midland Regional Assembly (EMRA), on behalf of the three Regional Assemblies in Ireland, was joint winner in the Research and Innovation Category for the Regional Development Monitor.

The Regional Development Monitor (RDM), which was launched in November 2022, is a publicly accessible data website that provides a national mapping and visualisation tool with a range of analytics dashboards, designed to enhance understanding of key societal trends in Ireland to aid better decision making and is the biggest open source data hub in the state.

Initiated by the Regional Assemblies, the RDM is a collaborative project between the three Regional Assemblies in Ireland, the All-Island Research Observatory (AIRO) at Maynooth University and spatial infrastructure partners the Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI) via the GeoHive platform. Principally designed to Monitor Performance of Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies (RSESs), the RDM assists government departments, regional assemblies, local authorities, planners, policy makers, researchers, elected members and members of the public.
The IPI Planning Awards 2023

The Irish Planning Institute is the largest professional membership body in Ireland representing planners engaging in physical and environmental planning. The IPI awards acknowledge a diverse range of projects and plans nationally taking place at a local, county and regional level in complex and dynamic environments. This year’s Awards recognised innovation and excellence in Irish planning in eight categories.

The eight category winners were:

• Plan Making – Kildare County Council – The Athy Local Area Plan 2021-2027 and the Development of a New Generation of Local Area Plans for Kildare
• Employment & Enterprise – County Kildare Leader Partnership CLG – Barrow Blueway Economic Plan
• Urban Regeneration and Heritage – Donegal County Council – Ballyshannon Historic Towns Initiative Project
• Climate Action Biodiversity – EirGrid – The Celtic Interconnector – Good Practice linking Planning, the Planner & Climate Change
• Sustainable Communities and Placemaking – Meath County Council – Kilcloon Community Development
• Research and Innovation – EMRA on behalf of the Three Regional Assemblies of Ireland – Regional Development Monitor (RDM) – Joint winner – South Dublin County Council – ‘Instantaneous Data’ – A South Dublin Approach to Active Land Management
• Workplace of the Year – South Dublin County Council – #Making it Work @ SDCC_Planning
• President’s Award – Limerick City and County Council – Young Person Participation in Land Use Planning

Details of each shortlisted entry are available in the awards booklet.

The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly is delighted to announce it has been appointed as the Irish Urban Contact Point (UCP) for the European Urban Initiative (EUI), having been nominated by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

The EMRA was only last year reappointed as URBACT Contact Point for the new programming period, with both Contact Point functions reaffirming the growing expertise of the Assembly around sustainable urban development. This will equip the Assembly in best supporting towns and cities of all sizes across Ireland with a menu of options when it comes to project calls for funding in both programmes.

Look out for upcoming communication about the EUI, including an online information session! In the meantime, see below for some initial background information on the programme and if you have any immediate questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to Karl Murphy, Contact Point for the EUI and URBACT programmes in Ireland at kmurphy@emra.ie

The EUI sets out to support urban areas of all size with innovative actions, capacity and knowledge building, policy development, and communication on sustainable urban development of EU relevance. The projects help test new solutions, techniques, and planning models. In doing this and in line with objective five of the current European Cohesion Policy, namely, bringing Europe closer to its citizens, the European Union seeks to ensure cities are actively involved in designing and implementing policy responses to their local challenges. The EUI further aims out to help realise the Urban Agenda for the EU, working closely with the new URBACT IV programme. The EUI is funded by the EU, with a total ERDF budget of €450m for 2021-27.

There are three main strands of assistance:

1. Innovative Actions: Urban authorities are supported with up to 80% direct co-financing and up to €5m in ERDF, permitting cities to experiment as testbeds for their innovative idea and then transferring it to other cities. Innovative Actions are organised under themes and these projects give urban authorities the space to take a risk and experiment on innovative and creative solutions to their urban challenges, figure out how they work in practice, before transferring this scalable solution to other EU cities. Innovative Actions’ projects must be participatory and can include agencies, private sector, research institutions, NGOs, academia, industry, civil society, and other levels of government.
2. Capacity Building: cities’ capacity can be strengthened through the design of sustainable urban development strategies, policies and practices in a way that is integrated and participative. Peer-learning activities are organised to provide targeted and short-term support, facilitating the exchange of knowledge, good practices and solutions via its peer reviews and city-to-city exchanges.
3. Knowledge environment: cities are also provided with avenues through which horizontal and thematic knowledge and knowhow can be accessed. The knowledge collected and related communication will help ensure support for Urban Agenda cooperation between Member State governments so that evidence-based policy on sustainable urban development can be acquired and developed.

 

On 6 February 2023 the Just Transition Platform (JTP) launched a call for applications for a new and targeted technical assistance called JTP GROUNDWORK. It will support eligible Just Transition Fund (JTF) regions in implementing their Territorial Just Transition Plans (TJTP).

As the implementation phase of the EU Just Transition Fund starts, the European Commission is rolling out new supports during 2023 which include technical assistance on the ground, knowledge products and case studies, an expert database and a peer-to-peer exchange programme for practitioners. This will enable eligible territories to effectively implement their Just Transition Territorial Plans.

This call is an initiative managed by the European Commission’s Just Transition Platform, and not through EMRA. Queries about the call should be directed to jtpgroundwork@justtransitionplatform.eu.

JTP GROUNDWORK – a co-creative technical assistance facility

The European Commission will provide eligible regions with tailored capacity-building and advisory support. Examples of potential services are:

• Project identification and development
• Capacity building for regional and local administrations and other key stakeholders
• Support for transparent, inclusive, and efficient governance mechanisms for TJTP implementation
• Stakeholder engagement and mobilisation
• Awareness-raising campaigns and communication strategies
• Support to engage in cross-border cooperation with other JTF regions

A core principle of this service is co-creating solutions with recipients to increase ownership and develop long-term capacity. Once selected by the Commission, beneficiaries will jointly develop the scope and type of technical assistance services. Support will be delivered through a mix of face-to-face and online meetings, workshops etc. A specific event will be organised per selected applicant.

All call for application details can be found on the Commission’s website.

DEADLINE for applications: 28 February 2023 at 23:00 CET.

There will be an information session on the #Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative Scheme. The scheme is administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine as part of the new EU Just Transition Fund. See details about the content of the event below!

DATE: Tuesday, 4th July 2023

TIME: 11am – 1pm

VENUE: The CUBE, 18 Church Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois R32 TP89

Space is limited. Please reserve your place: www.eventbrite.ie/e/eu-just-transition-fund-bioeconomy-demonstration-initiative-scheme-tickets-665210190587

About the event

As Ireland moves towards a low-carbon economy, the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine will deliver the Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative Scheme as part of the EU Just Transition Fund. Through this scheme, we’ll develop bioeconomy piloting and demonstration projects across the Midlands – scaling up biobased innovation and solutions, developing new green jobs, businesses and communities.

The fund will support the transition of the Just Transition Fund Territory to a sustainable and circular biobased region through funding of sustainable bioeconomy projects that are designed to have significant climate positive and regenerative impacts on local communities including our peatlands. The fund will be used to create a biobased local society and economy.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine intends to launch the Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative Scheme in July 2023. Further information on details of the scheme and how to apply will be outlined at the event.

The designated territory under the Plan and Programme includes the entire counties of Laois, Longford, Offaly, Roscommon, Westmeath, and municipal districts of Ballinasloe (Co. Galway), Athy and Clane-Maynooth (Co. Kildare), and Carrick-on-Suir and Thurles (Co. Tipperary).

Please share this event and information on this scheme with your colleagues.

Survey on Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative Scheme

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have also released a survey for EU Just Transition Stakeholders. You can take part in the survey here.