Kildare County Council adopts Kildare Local Economic and Community Plan 2024-2029
27th May 2024: Kildare County Council has published the Kildare Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP) 2024-2029, which was recently adopted at the full council meeting on April 29th.
The LECP is a six-year statutory plan required under the Local Government Act 2014. The purpose of the LECP is to set out the objectives and actions to promote Kildare’s economic and local/community development for a six-year period. The collective objective of stakeholders involved in the development of the plan is to ensure that all organisations in the county, statutory and non-statutory, public and private sector, work over the next six years to implement this plan. Kildare LECP aligns with other key plans, including the Kildare County Development Plan 2023-2029.
The process to develop the Kildare LECP took 12 months and was overseen by a nine-member Advisory Steering Group with expertise from within and outside of Kildare County Council. Over 1,300 people directly engaged in the consultation stage from July to November 2023 through a range of focus groups, surveys and interviews.
The final plan was also informed by a range of community and economic policies and plans including the All-Island Research Observatory (AIRO) in Maynooth University, updated datasets including Census 2022, which highlighted the ongoing growth, youth, economic success and challenges facing the county.
The overall vision of Kildare LECP 2023-2029 is:
County Kildare; working together as a sustainable, inclusive, economically vibrant, healthy community for all.
The plan sets out four high level goals and associated objectives which highlight the need to continue to focus on;
- developing infrastructure,
- the people within the county,
- progress climate action/justice and sustainability; and finally
- to attract the resources and investment for Kildare
A two-year action plan to progress the objectives of the LECP is currently being finalised. This action plan will be implemented by Kildare County Council and a range of other organisations and bodies across Kildare. Monitoring the plan’s progress will be overseen by Kildare Local
Community Development Committee (LCDC) and the Economic Development and Planning Strategic Policy Committee (SPC).
Following the adoption of the LECP, Cathaoirleach of Kildare County Council, Councillor Daragh Fitzpatrick, said: “Kildare County Council has adopted a comprehensive, evidence based LECP that clearly sets out the community and economic development priorities for the county for the next six years. Our LECP will enable us to make clear decisions, target and seek resources and work closely with other stakeholders. The principles that underpin our LECP will help to continue Kildare’s development as a county where people are proud to live, work, bring up their families and run their businesses.”
Chief Executive of Kildare County Council, Sonya Kavanagh said: “Kildare LECP provides an important framework to bring a range of policies and plans together. These inform current and future community and economic development in Kildare. Collaboration has been critical in developing the community and economic priorities for our county and will be essential over the next six years to embed our work together to reach shared goals.”
The LECP and supporting information can be viewed on the Kildare County Council website: https://kildarecoco.ie/AllServices/Community/KildareLCDC/LocalEconomicandCommunityPlan/