T3. Mr McAleer asked the Minister for Communities whether he will consider reviewing the policy that he referred to in a reply to a recent question, in which he said that the regeneration focus of his Department is on populations of 5,000 or more, given that, in rural constituencies such as West Tyrone, there are only two settlements of more than 5,000 people (AQT 213/22-27)

While my Department is responsible for urban regeneration, I understand the issues faced by our rural communities. I come from a rural community, and I represent one. My predecessor, Paul Givan, when he was Communities Minister, indicated that he wanted to extend the Department's scheme to regenerate public spaces to small towns and villages. We hoped to have a phased approach, beginning with settlements of over 2,500 persons and working closely with councils and the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. However, that was dependent on the resources being made available. No further funds were found to take that forward. Since then, particularly in response to COVID-19, my Department has led on the COVID-19 recovery, revitalisation and small settlements programmes in partnership with DFI and DAERA. The cross-departmental nature of those regeneration activities has been clearly demonstrated, which has confirmed the need for the Executive to take them forward.

I welcome the Minister's response. In light of that, is he satisfied that his Department is fulfilling its statutory responsibilities under the Rural Needs Act 2016 to pay due regard to the needs of rural areas when developing and implementing policies?

Yes. I believe that we are adhering to our statutory responsibilities. We can, however, always do more than simply follow the law. We can go over and above what is required, and that is why I am always more than happy to work with my ministerial counterpart in DAERA to put in place schemes to support regeneration in rural settlements such as the village catalyst grant scheme and the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) grant scheme as well as work through the Housing Executive.