• Kilkenny County Development Board
• The RAPID (Revitalisation of Areas by Planning Investment and Development) Programme

 

Kilkenny County Development Board

Kilkenny County Development Board (CDB) continues to focus on the co-ordinated and integrated delivery of services in the county. The 30 members of the board come from the Local Authority Sector, Local Development Sector, State Agency Sector and the Social Partners.

The Board is cognisant of the key principles underlying the County Development Board model and has actively sought to enshrine these principles in all of its work for the future. These principles include involvement of local communities, social inclusion, participation, and democratic legitimacy, recognition of voluntary effort, participation and process as part of the solution.

The work of the CDB happens through the two main sub-groups. These implementation groups are made up of agencies and groups that have the capacity to shape and deliver on actions identified.

One area of work where the CDB is working closely with the County Manager and the Age Friendly Alliance as well as the Aging Well Network is in the identification of Kilkenny as an Age Friendly County. A major consultation occurred over the summer of 2010 with over 400 older people across the county; the development of an Age Friendly County Strategy is expected early in 2011.

The Economic Sub-group of the CDB organised the Invest Kilkenny conference where the Invest Kilkenny website was launched; both are deemed as hugely successful.

The Social Inclusion Measures Sub-group is actively implementing its core actions. A key action that has harnessed the energy of all the agencies is the NIRSA Project. The project was developed in conjunction with the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA).

The project provides a tool for sharing multi-agency data using geographic information systems (GIS).

The project addresses the current dearth in accurate and accessible local level information at a community level and provides an easy to use, interactive and informative web-based planning tool.  The tool has been developed using a software package called Instant Atlas.

A full-time GIS researcher was employed by NUI Maynooth for the year to access relevant information for information sharing and mapping of services and statistics, the information is up-dated on a quarterly basis, and is implemented through making the shared information readily available to SIM members. Shared data sources include the Live Register (DSP), PULSE statistics (Garda), location of health services (HSE) and CSO information.

The Board also operates a small number of developmental action groups to ensure implementation of actions under the RAPID Programme and the Kilkenny Interagency Traveller Group.

The County Development Board and its subgroups and action groups continue to be supported by the Directorate and staff from the Community and Enterprise Section with support for the Economic sub-group coming from the Director of Finance within Kilkenny County Council.

 

The RAPID Programme

Implementing the social inclusion measures of the National Development Plan requires actions to be taken at local level. The RAPID (Revitalisation of Areas by Planning Investment and Development) programme provides a mechanism by which funding programmes can be prioritised for the most disadvantaged urban and provincial areas. The RAPID Area Implementation Team in Kilkenny is made up of all agencies with a social inclusion remit. Each agency has a responsibility to engage with RAPID Communities and prioritise these areas and these communities in work and implementation plans locally.

The underlying principles of all RAPID Priorities include;

• Better Service delivery ~ to improve service delivery and filling the gaps identified in existing service provision
• Community Participation ~ to involve the communities in development of all plans and all actions
• Service integration ~ to improve the co-ordination of services to service users ~ to identify existing services and how they can best interlink
• New Investment ~ to identify new projects and funding for projects based on local need
• Leadership ~ each theme has have an agency that takes a lead role in implementing the plan through the chairing of this specific sub-group

 

Kilkenny City RAPID Programme is focused on seven strategic themes that are;

• Community Safety
• Family Supports
• Health
• Youth Support
• Physical Environment
• Education
• Employment and Training

 

The 2008 - 2013 RAPID plan is divided into projects under the above themes with different agencies leading individual projects.

 

2010 saw the Kilkenny Local Authority drive the following actions;

• Completion of Newpark Sports Field Development
• Continuation of Newpark/Hebron Local Training Initiative in Community Gardens Project
• Development of Interagency Protocols for clients affected by substance mis-use. The RAPID Programme is supporting communities affected by substance mis-use to engage and to develop local action plans to affect change