The morning began with a brief welcome and update from National URBACT Point Karl Murphy, before a welcome to Navan from Kitty Foyle, Senior Executive Officer (Environment) at Meath County Council (MCC). Mary D’Arcy, Climate Action Coordinator (MCC) next gave an overview of the Climate Action Team’s involvement in URBACT, more recently in Navan (In4Green) but also prior to this, in Trim (Global Goals for Cities). Mary and Kitty both pointed to the positive impact URBACT involvement had on the towns.
Following the conclusion of our seven Action Planning Networks last December, five of the six current projects (below) attended the event and gave an update on their URBACT journey, what has worked well, what they have learned and what their next steps entail:
- WISH CITIES, an Innovation Transfer Network involving Dublin City Council
- CITI4UD, one of the new Transfer Networks involving Dublin City Council
- PARKS, another Transfer Network involving Monaghan County Council
- CALL, a Transfer Network involving Galway City Council
- ReDAN, a Transfer Network involving Limerick City and County Council
The update segment from the project partners allowed one another to understand the respective networks better, hear how the projects were being tackled and to identify synergies between them.
Following this, there was a presentation from the First Level Controllers (FLC) in charge of validating expenditure claims for URBACT projects in Ireland. This opportune session ahead of the first reporting period in July for the Transfer Network contingent gave the FLC the opportunity to explain in detail what can be considered an eligible cost in a project and how to best prepare project claims. In turn, project partners were able to ask questions and get clarifications.
The meeting was kindly hosted by MCC's Climate Action Team who recently completed their In4Green project with the adoption of their Integrated Action Plan (IAP). Their IAP was directly linked to the implementation of the nine decarbonisation zones within the county.
The meet-up continued with a presentation and a brief walking tour around Navan led by MCC Senior Executive Engineer, Cormac Ross (Transportation) to showcase their Navan 2030 integrated public realm and movement plan and the meaningful changes it brought to the town. Navan 2030's key aims are to deliver a revitalised and accessible town centre, making Navan a better place to Live, Work and Visit; and to strengthen economic growth in the town, supporting business, retail and tourism.
Cormac's presentation and subsequent guided tour explained the central importance of creating an attractive and accessible pedestrian environment, as well as improvements in movement and access in and out of the town using frequent and reliable public transport. Passenger growth on buses continues to grow!
The day concluded at the Solstice Arts Centre with a presentation of the “take me to the river initiative”, a creative public engagement project bringing communities together in the preservation of local waterbodies in the county.
A big thank you to Meath County Council for their time in hosting us and for lending their impressive URBACT experience. Also, to our project partners who continue to commit to a national network of learning and networking, reinforcing the great work being done on a transnational level.