In advance of the public consultation (Jan
25th) on the proposed changes to the Kirwan Roundabout, we are
asking the people of Galway to attend a public information event on Monday (Jan
23rd) on the Terryland Forest Park which will outline the health,
educational, environmental and social benefits of Ireland’s largest
community-driven urban forest park project.
It is important that the public are made
fully aware before it is too late of the need for council investment, protection
and promotion of what is known as the ‘Lungs of the City’ and the damage that a
proposed road construction through the park will do to its status as an Ecological
Corridor, as a major carbon sink in combating climate change, as an Outdoor
Classroom for the benefit of schools and colleges, as a tourist amenity and as
an Outdoor Gym and Greenway for the citizens Galway city.
At the meeting we will outline a programme of
social, learning, crafts, health, gardening and environmental projects being
organised for 2017 by teachers, heritage enthusiasts, scientists, gardeners, medical
professionals and community volunteers in this urban forest. These activities
include meadow-making, wildflower plantings, a traditional scything festival,
bat walks, nature trails, walking/cycling tours, a scarecrow festival, bee
keeping, organic gardening and citizen science events.
The lack of opportunities for today’s urban
youth generation in particular to enjoy woodlands and the wilderness is having serious
negative learning and health repercussions. The need for children to experience
the magic of forests and the wilderness is borne out by the latest scientific
and medical research worldwide which shows the fundamental importance of integrating
woodlands, trees and wetlands into the fabric of our cities. Building a road
through the park would not only destroy wildlife as well as a tranquil greenway
for walkers, it will directly damage people’s health by introducing high levels
of pollution. For vehicle emissions are associated with rising levels of
dementia, Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses. The
Environmental Protection Agencey (EPA) recently stated that 1,200 people die
prematurely every year in Ireland due to air pollution with the World Health
Organisation listing Galway as one of the worst offenders in Britain and
Ireland for breaching air safety levels.
It is accepted that trees are the most cost
effective way to tackle urban pollution, absorbing between 7% to 24% of
atmospheric contaminates.
On a biodiversity level, Terryland was
initiated as an ecological corridor for flora and fauna by providing a green link
to connect the Corrib waterways to the farmlands of east Galway, a key
development at a time when the status of over 60% of Ireland’s native species is
precarious.
We welcome the fact that two days after our
meeting, engineers from Halcrow Barry Consultants will host a public
consultation on the proposed changes to the Kirwan Roundabout in the new Ballinfoile
Castlegar Neighbourhood Centre
But our fear is that the views of the engineers
as well as of senior officials in City Hall fail to fully understand Terryland’s
role in citizens’ health and biodiversity protection, a situation that seems
unbelievable considering that Galway is the designated Green Leaf or Green
Capital of Europe for 2017. For at
last week’s council meeting when plans were unveiled for the first time of the
six design options on revamping the Kirwan Roundabout, not one of the engineers
either in their written or oral presentations made reference to the ‘Terryland
Forest Park’ by name. This in
spite of the fact that three of the options are based on dissecting the lands
of this key recreational and ecological zone. This negative stance was similar to City Hall’s recent bye-law
recommendation to ban children from climbing trees in parks as well as when the
council’s CEO in September introduced the forest road development via a
Material Alterations to the Galway City Development Plan, where the
construction was (under)stated as just a “link road between Bóthar na dTreabh
(N6) and Liosbaun Estate. They are by this approach devaluing the fundamental
importance of forests and other green spaces, treating them as land banks to be
used for built development and expansion when they want.
There is no doubt that the Kirwan
Roundabout and access roads infrastructure needs to be revamped to support
motorised and non-motorised vehicle users. But it is going against the trend of
other European countries that the engineers are not being given the wider
holistic remit to consider the installation of a proper pedestrian, cyclist and
public transport infrastructure nor to review the synchronisation of the
traffic lights which are presently leading to tailbacks on the Kirwan
roundabout. Likewise as with other countries’ such as the United States,
Netherlands and Britain, there is no consideration given of building Green
(wildlife) Bridges to connect the different sections of Terryland Forest
presently separated by Bóthar na dTreabh (N6) and the Quincentennial Bridge
Road.
The Terryland Forest Park project was
established as a partnership between City Hall and communities in 1999 and with
its 100,000 native trees is officially recognised as the Lungs of the City.
Such a proposed road construction punctures these lungs, goes against council’s
own environmental policies and is a betrayal of the trust of the people of
Galway who in their thousands have planted tens of thousands of trees and
native wildflowers over the last two decades.
We want the citizens to reclaim their
forests and do what the council signage says at the main entrance to the park,
“Citizens of Galway, This is Your Park, Take Ownership of our City’s Cultural
Woodland”. The council have no right to renege on their written promises and to
steal what was planted and nurtured by the ordinary citizens of all ages. We
need investment not destruction.
