KCA considers developing Village Design Statement
The Toolkit was developed by The Heritage Council and is designed to help communities establish project management structures for their local VDS projects.
The matter came up in discussion at last Thursday's KCA meeting in the Community Centre, when Noel Clare said he had arranged a Zoom meeting of interested KCA members with one of the authors of the Toolkit, scheduled during the coming week.
The discussion was initiated by a reference to the visit of Westport town architect Simon Wall to Kilcullen in February, where he detailed how the Mayo town had devised an Integrated Action Plan to reshape its centre. Antoinette Buckley told the meeting that a visit to Westport should be organised, so KCA could see for itself how that plan had worked.
A Village Design Statement developed with the VDS Toolkit is compiled by members of a local community in collaboration with the local authority and other stakeholders. Typically it sets out a vision for the village over 15-20 years in environmental, cultural and socio-economic terms. Agreed design principles relating specifically to the village are used by all stakeholders to guide infill or new local developments, to ensure conservation and enhancement of the village character and distinctiveness. Use of the Toolkit is designed to result in an agreed action plan for specific and phased projects.
The process was initially developed between 2000-2007 involving 40 villages, and was then externally evaluated. In 2009, two pilot projects were set up in the rural village of Julianstown, Co Meath, and the urban village of Sandymount in Dublin. The outcomes and lessons learned led to the provision of the Toolkit by The Heritage Council in 2012.
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