Rejuvenation proposals on the cards for Salthill

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – The concept of a reimagined Leisureland – to include Salthill Park as part of ‘a unique to Ireland’ 12-acre indoor and outdoor amenity – has been presented to the City Council.

While the proposals are only at the very early ‘concept stage’ they received a warm reception from councillors at their meeting on Monday, who heard that the new amenity would be different to what would be available at any other destination in Ireland.

Over the coming weeks and months, the Council will be involved in a series of engagements on the project with the local community, the general public, elected officials, Salthill Village representatives, Failte Ireland, the Galway Tourism Taskforce, event managers and current Leisureland clients.

Council Director of Services, Brian Barrett, told the online meeting that the Leisureland concept was an exciting one with the potential to qualify for regional and possibly national funding.

Along with Council Tourism Officer, Ruairi Lehmann, Mr Barrett presented their ‘concept report’ for potential future development of the Leisureland facility with the incorporation of the adjacent Salthill Park into the project.

“With this redevelopment, we want to create an experience that will match the ambition that was set by prime public spaces [such as Tivoli Park in Copenhagen, Millennium Park in Chicago and Zaryadye Park, Moscow].

“This will have a mix of uses that will serve the local community and act as a major catalyst for the tourism and hospitality industry in Galway.

“To match this ambition and develop Leisureland to its full potential, we must look at Salthill in its totality. For this project we would like to investigate the possibilities to combine Leisureland with the neighbouring Salthill Park. This creates over 12 acres of space and enormous possibilities,” the report states.

One of the aims of the new concept would be the return of public space along the Prom, Salthill and Toft carparks to the ‘public realm’ – rather than their current carparking usage.

This would be facilitated by a new underground facility at the ‘new Leisureland’ incorporating a major car-parking area which could ‘be future proofed as a new mobility hub with electric and shared vehicles and a last-mile delivery hub’.
(Photo: Chaosheng Zhang)
This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the rest of the story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.