A major rural development initiative, Smart Villages, has been announced for Headford with the aim of enhancing cooperation, building new alliances, and delivering funding for the town. A capacity crowd had attended a town meeting last week to discuss the potential for Headford as a ‘Smart Village’ destination, with all of the main town stakeholders present on the invitation of Galway Rural Development (GRD).
Following that meeting, and the subsequent response, GRD have now confirmed Headford as its second location for Smart Villages in Galway with MEP Maria Walsh visiting the town yesterday to confirm the news. Across the EU, ‘Smart Villages’ have implemented improvements to the lives of millions of rural dwellers in terms of their economic, social, environmental, and cultural lives.
On the back of that proven record of success across Europe in terms of cultural and economic growth, and in-keeping with the aims of the national Our Rural Future policy; last year sixteen regions in the country came together to develop a national Smart Villages programme. Led by Galway Rural Development, and with partners in Kilkenny and Cork, the initiative has been described as ‘a game-changer for rural areas’.
CEO of GRD Steve Dolan said “Essentially, the Smart Villages concept opens up new opportunities to improve the sustainability of rural areas and it reflects the principles and methods associated with being ‘smart and competitive’. By any measure, Smart Villages Mountbellew has been an unqualified success and we’ve now had a wonderful beginning here in Headford.”
“As a start point, Smart Village training has been developed to address the needs of the community and businesses alike. This training, beginning this coming Tuesday in Saint Fursa’s Hall at 8pm, will help up-skill the wider Headford community under a number of strategic themes in the areas of food, nature, smart towns, and transport. Everyone in the wider Headford area is welcome to attend.”
MEP Maria Walsh was keen to acknowledge the potential for the initiative in Headford and praised the ambition. “I’ve seen first-hand the success of the initiative in Mountbellew over the past 12 months and, given my own background in community work, I am intimately familiar with LEADER. Given the evidence of ‘Smart Villages’ successes across the EU, I’m delighted to see it embraced in Headford.”
Ms Walsh said she looked forward to the fruits of the work over the coming months. “Sharing ideas, sharing experience, and building intercommunity relationships are core concepts of Smart Villages which aims to deliver for communities. If we are to build a vibrant rural future for Irish citizens’, then proven initiatives like this must be central to our endeavours and I know how committed the team at GRD are to its goals.”
Councillor Andrew Reddington also warmly welcomed the news. “Smart Villages is expected to be a major element of the next round of EU Programming, including for LEADER resources. When the opportunity came for Headford to be included as part of this initiative, as a community we have grabbed it and we have ambitious plans for what we would like seen achieved. The journey starts here.”
