Northern Ireland is set to benefit from a half-a-million-pound funding boost for the regeneration of its coastal communities, following an announcement by Environment Minister Alex Attwood.

The Coastal Communities Fund for Northern Ireland is designed to support the economic development of coastal communities and support a range of projects, including those that support charities, the environment, education and health.

This latest funding is in addition to the £425,000 that was allocated to two community groups in 2012 through the fund.

Attwood is urging coastal communities to identify quality projects that would benefit from the fund, particularly projects that promote regeneration and investment, develop renewable energy and improve skills and employment.

The Learning to Grow project, based in Magheramorne on the shores of Larne Lough, used its grant of £158,465 from round one of the funding to set up Northern Ireland’s first social enterprise water-bottling facility.

The Water Wheel project extracts and bottles water from a local well, using carbon neutral processes such as green energy supply, recycled biodegradable bottles and recycled material for labels.

Liz Hanvery, Horticultural therapist at Learning to Grow said: “The Coastal Community Fund has turned our hopes and dreams into reality. The Fund staff have been an absolute pleasure to deal with and we know that we would have found it quite simply impossible to move forward with our exciting water wheel project without their support.”

Closing date for Year Two applications is 12 noon on 26th April 2013. Application forms for the Coastal Communities Fund are available by emailing [email protected].