Remodelling the Model County is not about looking backwards. It is instead about building towards an ever more positive future. The future we envisage for Wexford is as follows:

By 2012 we want Wexford to be a place that many want to come to ... but which no one wants, or needs, to leave.

That Wexford will be a place of prosperous and thriving people, communities and businesses balanced between town and country inclusive and diverse, welcoming to all, making the most of its own particular heritage but also outward looking, safe and healthy where the vulnerable are particularly looked after, clean and green, yet capitalising on its location, assets and climate where learning is available across the County and throughout life.

To make that future come about we believe action is needed under three broad headings:

• Wexford at Work: Competing in the Wider Economy
• Putting People First
• Who We Are

       
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These in turn are developed in the form of Themes and Goals as follows:

WEXFORD AT WORK: COMPETING IN THE WIDER ECONOMY

1. Develop a vibrant local economy

• Develop a strong business culture
• Attract foreign direct investment
• Promote the development of indigenous Irish enterprise
• Promote the development of micro-enterprise
• Promote Wexford as a location for both foreign direct investment and indigenous industry
• Develop a strong farming and horticultural industry in County Wexford.
  

2. Develop our people to create employment opportunities for all sectors of the community

• Provide third level education in County Wexford
• Provide a highly trained and skilled workforce
• Increase access to higher paid work and employment for all
• Provide specific training programmes for people employed
  in agriculture and related rural activities who wish to pursue off-farm employment
• Provide specific training programmes for people who have lost their jobs due to restructuring
  in Wexford-based industry.
  
  

3. Develop our infrastructure to facilitate and promote economic development

• Establish County Wexford as a model location for sustainable inward and indigenous investment
• Develop the port infrastructure of the County
• To develop the commercial potential of inshore fisheries
• Develop a co-ordinated rural transport service throughout the County.
  

4. Develop Wexford as a gateway for development

• Promote and develop Wexford as a "Gateway Town" and development centre
• Encourage decentralisation of public service departments and organisations to County Wexford.

5. Develop tourism Develop a sustainable tourism sector

• Initiate a tourism programme of market-led development
• Develop water-based tourism activity in County Wexford
• Develop the rural tourism product.

       
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PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST

6. Develop and value the ideal of public service in society

• Develop civic participation
• Support the principle of "Volunteerism" in civil society and encourage participation in voluntary activity
• Co-ordinate public services.
  

7. Improve the quality of life of the people of County Wexford

• Improve access to appropriate public transport
• Improve the levels of household income to ensure that each resident of County Wexford has an income adequate to meet their needs
• Ensure that residents of County Wexford live in a safe and secure environment
• Improve the health and well-being of the people of Wexford
• Promote the rural development of the county
• Promote and support community development
  

8. Ensure access by each household to affordable housing or accommodation of good quality, culturally acceptable, suitable to its needs, located in a sustainable community and in the tenure of its choice as far as possible

• Improve the affordability, quality and ranges of housing and accommodation
• Develop and support estate management mechanisms in local authority housing estates
• Address the accommodation needs of Traveller households through access to affordable, good quality, culturally appropriate accommodation
• Create viable and sustainable communities through improving the recreational, amenity and community facilities of housing programmes
• Develop the private rented sector in County Wexford in response to the Report of the Commission on the Private Rented Residential Sector.

9. Take a systematic approach that will provide lifelong learning opportunities to all residents of County Wexford

• Improve access to pre-school services and supports for all children and parents of the County
• Develop the pattern of full attendance and completion of primary level education
• Maximise the level of completion and credentials achieved by each student of second level education
• Maximise the role, recognition and benefits of out of school education
• Maximise the participation in and completion of third level education and training
• Increase the levels of literacy of the people of the County
• Provide Information and Communications Technology (ICT) access and training to the residents of County Wexford to ensure that they are capable of engaging in the Information Society.
  

10. Promote social inclusion

• Tackle the consequences of social exclusion through the provision of appropriate needs based services
• Overcome with the causes of social exclusion through capacity building
• Address social exclusion problems in a co-ordinated way between agencies.
  

WHO WE ARE

11. Enhance and maintain a high quality environment

• Promote and provide for effective waste management strategies to meet Wexford's needs
• Protect and enhance the coast, landscape, heritage and built environment
• Protect and develop the welfare of domestic and farm animals
• Protect and develop the diversity of flora and fauna in County Wexford
• Promote energy efficiency and awareness and to harness the natural resources of the County
  for the development of renewable energy
  

12. Be a vibrant welcoming County, valuing a multi- cultural society

• Ensure all residents have access to personal development opportunities and are in a position to contribute to cultural diversity at community level
• Foster the development of community spirit and respect for the diversity of cultures that enrich the County
• Value a strong confident local identity and cultural heritage of the County, through the recording and promotion of the richness of history and contemporary life
  
  

13. Develop County Wexford as a centre of arts and culture

• Assist capability-building and demonstrate the County's contribution within national and international arenas
• Explore the possibility of developing Wexford as a centre of excellence for one or more cultural sectors
  

14. Increase sports participation through the provision of a wide range of leisure activities which are accessible and affordable to all

• Increase participation in sports and leisure activities
• Improve the quality and quantity of sports facilities provision in the County
• Facilitate the integration of the various agencies, sporting organisations and voluntary groups in order to plan for sporting provision in the County
• Promote and inform parents and policy makers of the important role of play in children's lives.
  

15. Local Agenda 21 - Create a culture of sustainable development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

• Place sustainability at the centre of economic development
• Place sustainability at the centre of social development
• Place sustainability at the centre of cultural development.

Emerging from the 15 Themes and 62 Goals, a further 229 Strategic Objectives have been developed.

The future well-being of Wexford will not of course rely solely on what happens within the County. The CDB believes a number of issues also require attention at a South East Regional level.

These are:

• Third Level education
• Energy
• Public Transport
• Tourism
• Information Technology
• Major Projects.
  

Remodelling the Model County is committed to equality within Wexford. That means proofing or testing everything it does against a series of equality criteria. The CDB is also committed to continually
improve effectiveness. That in turn means regularly checking progress on the ground against targets and objectives in the Strategy.