City Council encourages people to get gardening

City planners believe Galway can reap the benefits of garden allotments. The new draft Galway City Development plan extols the virtues of the City Council supporting allotments and community gardens.

“They encourage self-sufficiency, healthy living and create spaces that help bring communities together. Community spaces also include cemeteries, which provide important places for quiet contemplation in the city’s environment, and often support biodiversity and cultural heritage,” the plan says.

The City Council has pledged that over the next five years it will “continue to provide and facilitate allotments and community gardens in the city subject to Council approval.”

The plan also says the Council will implement a “public realm strategy” which contributes to the creation and maintenance of high quality and successful open spaces. It says that some open spaces in the city, such as Eyre Square and Fishmarket “have an important cultural and historical legacy”.

Open spaces “are important elements of the public realm of the city and play a vital role in defining the image of Galway, affecting the perception of an area and fostering a sense of place.”

The plan adds: “These spaces within the urban landscape attract inward investment and business by creating attractive settings, contribute towards climate change resilience and enhance the biodiversity of the city’s environment.

“The function of these open spaces vary throughout the city – many are meeting and gathering places, providing spaces for social interaction and events, while other open spaces have a passive and active recreation role.”

Meanwhile, the Council confirmed it has “commenced the process of the identification of suitable locations for new cemeteries in the city.”

The plan says that the Council will continue to “maintain existing burial grounds and provide for new city cemetery site(s) in the city or city environs and approach cemetery design with an emphasis on landscaping and natural amenities.”