Louth County Council is to redevelop St Dominic’s Park, a popular amenity for local families and children.
The work will include the extension of the existing playground and parking facilities, which have been very limited up to now.
New children’s play equipment will also be installed, perimeter fencing, lighting, and safety surfacing, as part of the project. Long-awaited new toilets are also to be built, plus new footpaths, kerbs, landscaping, electric vehicle charging, and accessible car parking.
The plans have been lodged with the Louth County Council Civic Offices in Fair Street and will be available to the public for inspection until Tuesday, April 7 next. They can also be viewed online at www.louthcoco.ie.
Hundreds of people use the park and adjoining Ramparts river walk every day. Many people park there before walking out and back to the Oldbridge House and the boardwalk.
New biodiversity panels have also been installed along the Ramparts – or the Boyne Greenway as it is now officially called – thanks to Drogheda Tidy Towns.
The four panels feature on the two and a half kilometre stretch of the walkway from the Bridge of Peace in Drogheda to the Mary McAleese Bridge.
They are the work of local man Tony Conaghy from the biodiversity study of the river Boyne and its environs he carried out last year.
The panels bring Tony’s observations to life at the place that they were initially recorded.
They are:
Woodlands Panel – Discover our rare alluvial woodland, ancient lichens and mosses, and the vital role trees play in carbon storage, flood protection and biodiversity.
Birds Panel – Meet the Boyne’s summer and winter visitors , from swallows and sand martins to kingfishers, turnstones and brent geese, highlighting why the estuary is a protected SAC/SPA.
Marshlands Panel – Explore reeds,sedges, otters, red deer, dragonflies and migratory warblers and learn how wetlands clean water and support life.
Hedgerow Panel – A celebration of our living wildlife corridors, home to foxes, badgers, pollinators, butterflies and seasonal blossoms that sustain entire ecosystems.
The Drogheda Tidy Towns Committee congratulated and thanked Tony for his great work and Louth County Council who helped finance the signs through the Louth Tidy Towns grant scheme.
The committee added: Take a moment on your next stroll to stop, read, and enjoy the incredible biodiversity on our doorstep.
