Chapter 1: Waterford and the Development Plan
The vision has to be updated to state the measures of success, or "how we, as the Waterford Community, measure such vision being put into action ", such as:
1. Size of the County economy a year (GVA or GNI*): 22 & 28
2. Population in the county: 22 & 28
3. Climate emission in the county (per person, per year): 22 & 28
4a. Number of homes built a year: 22 to 28 (New & Regenerated)
4b. Number of young people living at home : 22 to 28 according to CSO
6. Homes in Fuel poverty in the County: 22 to 28
The measures for "best county to live, work & play", qualitative & quantitative, have to be added to the vision aspect & executive summary.
The SDG's for the county have to be stated for 2022 and 2028, and then how often these will be reported. Quarterly updates, in partnership with the CSO's new SDG digital dashboard, is requested, to ensure 90 day actions can drive results & plans.
Annual reporting is not sufficient and in a digital age, for a 3.5bn a year economy, vital. It's important for the community & businesses to have confidence restored given the context of Underdelivery in the past across many aspects of unemployment, climate & poverty; regular, quarterly reporting ensures confidence is recovered from actions & delivery. It's also important to set out such measures that allows the County be viewed internationally as a place to visit, move to & invest in. With such a digital dashboard, it's far easier to put Waterford on the international map as a place to thrive.
A partnership with the University, CSO and Chamber can make this a reality and a key improvement on the plan; reporting & measurement in a digital dashboard.
-10,000 homes of existing & new delivered to 2028 & vacancy brought to EU average levels in housing & commercial to accommodate the existing 8,000 living at home & the population growth needing some 5,700 additional homes to 2028. This is set as a statement of ambition set across a Housing crisis in Ireland, Waterford is to be the county with the highest rate of supply per 100k in the country, given the affordability of the county, the attraction of living here due to the growth of the economy, the quality of life and the carbon emissions targets being exceeded. That means working with Credit unions, EU and departments and the university to unlock supply, with that supply frontloaded in the development plan, given the number living at home and the economic impact of creating jobs in the county for regeneration, given the Covid impact on umemployment.
-50% reduction in the Young (18-49) living at home by 2028 (c8000 young living @ home reduced to c4000 in 2028) through provision of living spaces of new homes & regeneration of the existing vacant commercial & residential homes, in partnership with Credit unions, EU & central departments
-All 12,000 Covid job losses recovered through proactive leadership with EU on Green deal, funding models and partnerships.
-2000 of the vacant homes across the county brought back into use by 2030 through partnerships with EU funding, EIB and South East private & public delivery models that exist in other countries.
-Fuel poverty in Waterford homes reduced by 80% by 2028 through partnerships with local, regional, national & international partners, not just Climate Action fund. E.g. Credit union funding and PPA's.
-Of the 8,000 women at home, reduce by 30% by 2025 through provision of creche partnerships using some of the vacant spaces in City, Tramore & Dungarvan. Work with Central government & EU to lead on delivery of new solutions to help women entrepreneurs so the county is recognised as "The County for women-led businesses & social enterprises."
-30% reduction in climate emissions per home vs 2020 & City signed up to Mayor, with the Council to be 100% renewable energy powered by 2030 (ahead of National targets) and have led on Emissions reductions through deciduous tree planting programmes as part of the National Tree planting programme (i.e. Waterford share to be over 2,304 hectares based on per capita).
-The land & energy plan has to reflect these land uses, as well as sufficiently zoned space for solar being 25% of the counties energy by 2028.
-Economy: To have grown + 30% in 2028 vs 2020, as population growth alone accounts for 26%, should the housing demand above be met.
-Work with other counties to become the "Most Satisfied region in EU to live in" as measured by external 3rd parties, annually
-The University of South East, with full access to funding like other universities, to physically expanded into city core, and into many of the vacant above the shop to be provided as the accommodation through innovative partnerships, seeing the city offering the most affordable student accommodation in Ireland, which in turn creates c3,000 jobs a year in graduates exiting the University. Currently the absence of a full uni with full funding sees 5,000 jobs lost in the region a year, according to South East Monitor (https://www.wit.ie/schools/business/south-east-economic-monitor)
-Population growth of 26% on 2016
-By end 2028, relocate & attract back 2,000 of our 10.000 lost youth /18-40’s in communities from the last decade back to the county & region through partnerships & promotion of the affordability & vision
-On back of population growth, Retail & Tourism sectors to be 3bn p.a. (+30% on 2019) which sees 2m visitors p.a and 30% reduction in the Retail leakage of 680m p.a. to boost jobs in these sectors to be in line with 2019 levels in Galway (i.e. 300m a year Tourism and 30,000 jobs).
-Lead on making the City, Dungarvan & Tramore have the most km's of bicycle paths per 100k in Ireland by 2028, with the delivery of this to be frontloaded 2023 to 2025. Dungarvan & Tramore signing up for the Colloborative Town Centre first is a key part of attracting talent back to the two largest towns & improving trade. The focus on villages can come on back of the town successes.
Underpinning the above is the Development plan to have a published timeline & masterplan of 2022 to 2028 for key projects go-live; The University expansion unlocks FDI confidence, the North Quays, pedestrianisation of South Quays, the Guardian statue (tourism flagship), the Airport and then the train to Dublin unlocks the commute of both tourists & commuters to "live Waterford, work from home and then occasionally visit Dublin" reversing the brain drain of the last two decades, which alongside signing up to the EU's .
The County & Council has to also become less dependent on political interventions & funding, and instead seek to drive it's own destiny, as the Council is supposed to represent the communities of Waterford. This means using the 4bn cash on deposits to create community funds to unlock growth, such as Cork has already delivered in it's city centre through delivering over 2m square feet of private development for it's 25,000 city core from 2015 to 2020, which in turn adds over 15,000 jobs. That delivery already is far in advance of Ireland 2040, which caps ambitions.
Given Waterford is currently underperforming other cities & counties by some 1bn a year, or 10,000 jobs, in trade, on an economy that is only c4bn, which hasn't been addressed in the development plan, however, by putting in place a dedicated, capable team with a track record of delivery of scale, that drives delivery outside Council's day-to-day performance would reduce the risk in the next development plan of underdelivery that has occurred in the last decade; a dedicated, full-time resource to unlock 1bn and 10,000 jobs would change the course of Waterford's history, and both Cork & Limerick have shown what's possible in the past decade when such teams are put in place; Waterford now has the opportunity to replicate these models of delivery to unlock growth. That growth is deserved and not ambitious as others have delivered it already and are now setting out further plans to build on that growth themselves, than be hamstrung by central, regional & local politics as opposed to prioritising community-led ambition. The politics around the university and the South East, with a 600,000 catchment within 60 minutes of the city, being the only city-region without a full university with full access to debt funding rather than be held back by central departments, is the one thing that has to change to unlock the potential of the city, the county & region, given it is 3,000 jobs a year for the county & 5,000 for the region. That there is no timeline in the county development plan, nor masterplan of it's location, undermines all other aspects and confidence in communities & private investment of the Development plan, as well as allowing the taxes in the county for the past decade and the current capital plan, of 500m in county & South East taxes, to fund other cities growth, is not acceptable to Waterford & South East. We now ought to be in receipt of that 500m given zero cost to borrow, and then frontload the 500m in immediate plans as ultimately, that is the communities cash, which unlocks jobs.
Important to getting our fair share of capital back from our taxes is addressing the IDA underdelivery, which is worth 100m a year to Waterford and 543m a year to the South East; it requires a new economic development & FDI group to work in addition to IDA until the historical underdeliveries and gaps closed. Not doing so is 8,230 jobs that young people miss out on and political in not actioning.
The attached outlines a full Development plan for 22-28, with timelines, and it's jobs & economic impact, by year, with specific solution on housing, retail, tourism & climate. This plan was first sent over a year ago (August 2020) to the TD's and Council Exec.
Rob