Residents of Oranhill in Oranmore have set out a vision and plan for a new public park showcased at an online public meeting held last week. 13 public representatives including TDs, Senators and Councillors also attended along with more than 50 residents of Oranhill and Oranmore.
The community is working hard to tackle the desperate shortage of recreational facilities in both their own estate and the village of Oranmore. Before Christmas, residents spotted an opportunity to put a disused NAMA-managed site that has remained unsold for a number of years to good use. Dezoning of the site was undertaken at a council meeting vote in December 2021 and the Material Alteration went into the Galway County Development Plan. There will be a further vote this week on whether or not to keep the site dezoned.
Residents are now urging councillors to continue to support the dezoning to allow a public park with recreation facilities and green space to put in place. The park would be available to all residents of Oranmore.
Resident Ruth Shanahan said the plans for the new park are exciting and inspiring, especially as they have been asking for almost 18 years for recreational space for the community.
“Our children and teens deserve proper facilities to play in, play sport in and the community desperately needs a central recreational space that is multi-purpose.
“At the moment, we all have to get in our cars to drive to access any kind of amenity which isn’t sustainable. With all the new houses being built in our locality, it’s just going to become an even bigger problem,” she added.
Years of successive Oranmore Local Area Plans, including the current LAP 2012-2022 have called for “Objective CF 8 – Provision of Recreation and Amenity Facilities in Oranhill to ensure the provision of recreational and amenity facilities as an integral part of any development proposals for Oranhill.” The dezoned site now represents the perfect opportunity to finally deliver on that objective.
Jill Holtz, Chair of Oranhill Residents Association, points out residents made submissions to the Galway County Development Plan showing how much this space would benefit and improve their lives.
“The results of years of poor planning can at last be undone with one simple solution. We hope Galway County Council and our councillors support residents in availing of this ideal opportunity to solve this problem.
“We were delighted with the pledges of support from cross-party representatives at our meeting as it shows they are on board with the vision and plan we have set out,” she concluded.
