County Development Board Introduction

The Office of Community & Enterprise was specifically established as the main support body for Wicklow County Development Board.

Wicklow CDB is the body responsible, as part of a national government initiative, for improving integration and co-ordination of activity between statutory and non-statutory agencies within the county. Thirty two representatives from local government, local development agencies, the state agencies (operating locally) and the social partners (including voluntary/community sector) participate on the Board of Wicklow CDB.

April 2002 saw the launch of the Wicklow CDB strategy Outlook a comprehensive ten-year strategy for the social, cultural and economic development of Co. Wicklow. Outlook, as a strategy, provides an overall framework within which all development and the delivery of public services in Co. Wicklow will occur.

The strategy contained a total of 249 actions of which 82 are classified as priority actions. In the short-term, much of the work of Wicklow CDB will focus on ensuring that sufficient resources are invested by the relevant agencies charged with delivering these actions in Co. Wicklow.

Wicklow County Development Board CDB was established in 2000 as part of a national initiative by the Government to establish 34 City and County Development Boards across the country. The role of Wicklow CDB was initially to prepare and implement an integrated economic, social and cultural strategy for County Wicklow.

Following a very lengthy consultation process with all sectors of Wicklow society and taking account of a range of local, regional and national documents a strategy was agreed. This strategy Outlook the Ten Year Strategic Plan For County Wicklow was published in 2002.

In early 2005 the Department of th e Environment, Heritage and Local Government requested all City and County Development Boards to review their 10-year strategies. This Review focussed on what had been achieved to date by Wicklow CDB as well as setting realistic targets going forward over the next three years. The Board of Wicklow CDB undertook this Review through a series of meetings and workshops throughout 2005, measuring and evaluating what had happened within the county since the launch of Outlook in 2002.

This Review therefore includes both an account of the successes of Wicklow CDB to date as well as highlighting the learning which has taken place during the 2002 - 2005 period. The updated data and information contained in this Review (and accompanying CD) uniquely demonstrates the dramatic changes that have occurred in Wicklow since the publication of Outlook in 2002.