Submission from Clare Public Participation Network to the Draft Rural Development Strategy 2017- 2028
Clare PPN made a general submission to the Council’s new Draft Rural Development Strategy 2017 – 2028 and it is here in full for those who wish to read it. Whilst it is up to our members themselves to make specific submissions about projects in their own areas this submission was intended to ensure that some of the general priorities Clare PPN agreed at its plenary meeting were named in the new strategy.
Dear Director,
Please find attached a list of items that Clare PPN would like to have named and detailed in the new rural development strategy for County Clare. As you know Clare PPN is a network of more than 200 community groups and these groups may take the opportunity to make separate, specific or project based submissions to this process themselves. Clare PPN as a network is committed to and recognises the importance of the protection of the human rights of people in the county and their livelihoods, the protection of the heritage, environment and landscape, and the necessity for all people within the community to be recognised and supported and these recommendations for inclusion in the Rural Development Strategy aim to ensure that these values will be highlighted and considered in all decision making. Clare PPN is committed to the sustainable economic and social development of Clare’s rural communities and welcomes this strategy. We will continue to participate in the process and make suggestions through our representative Christy Sinclair. We would much obliged if you would take these suggestions on board,
Christy Sinclair
Clare PPN Representative on the Rural Development Forum.
C/O Clare Public Participation Network
Unit One Westgate Business Park,
Kilrush Road,
Ennis.
Phone: 087 1617375
Email: sarah@clareppn.ie
Recommendations :
- All actions within this strategy will recognise housing as a human right and will seek to ensure that this right is realised for the people of Clare with particular attention to the urgent need for culturally appropriate accommodation for the ethnic minority Traveller community, for those escaping situations of domestic violence and those in emergency accommodation or facing homelessness.
- Clare County Council, in conjunction with the relevant agencies and organisations, will ensure that the people of Clare and the rural communities where they live will have access to the services and facilities required to live sustainably, including access to employment, education, training and medical care.
- All actions within this strategy will, in consultation with people who have disabilities, seek the progressive realisation of all the rights which are codified in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- All actions within this strategy will recognise the immediate threat posed by Climate Change and will seek to ensure that all developments or actions undertaken as part of this strategy will seek to mitigate climate change.
- All actions within this strategy will take the provisions of the Aarhus convention on public participation into account and ensure public participation is resourced and supported by all agencies and groups involved.
- This strategy recognises that issues in the surrounding counties and at sea may impact on the people or environment of County Clare and will include a commitment on the part of the Local Authority to monitor such developments and take any actions available to them to ensure that the environment, health and interests of the diverse people of Clare are protected.
- This strategy will recognise, celebrate and avail of the resources from the diverse communities who live in the county.
- Clare County Council should take responsibility for circulating all information regarding local, national and international opportunities for community groups to access funding opportunities in as timely a fashion as possible. Clare PPN suggests that they should dedicate an area of their website to this function and undertake to circulate a newsletter or other communication periodically.