Councils across NI get funding to improve green spaces

In Mid Ulster there is £104,600 to restore pubic facilities in Drumcairne and Derrynoyd Forests (pictured)

Each council in Northern Ireland is to get funding to improve green spaces, the government has said.

More than £1.3m is to be divided among councils to improve 26 green spaces.

These include a new King's Garden in Newtownabbey to mark the coronation of King Charles III, new paths in Drumcairne and Derrynoyd forests and a restored boardwalk at Killyfole Lough.

Dozens of schemes across the UK have been awarded funding as part of the the government's "levelling up" project.

The £1.3m is part of Northern Ireland's £127m share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

A number of the projects will also receive match funding from councils and support from Northern Ireland departments.

The are plans for a community garden in Botanic Gardens in south Belfast

The Department for Levelling Up said the money will "deliver tangible improvements for local people, with positive impacts on pride in place, local growth and life chances".

"It's really important that people can take pride in the place they live and have easy access to more green spaces like gardens, play parks, cycle paths and forests," Levelling Up Minister Dehenna Davison said.

"This funding is going to all eleven councils in Northern Ireland and will support projects that visibly improve community facilities for everyone," she added.

The funding will be divided as follows:

• Antrim and Newtownabbey - £101,395 towards the development of a pleasure garden within Hazelbank Park, Newtownabbey, to mark the coronation of King Charles III.

• Ards and North Down - £113,925 towards a playground at De Wind Drive in Comber, providing a wider range of play equipment for younger and older children, as well as inclusive equipment for those children with disabilities.

• Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon - £152,191 towards five council-owned play parks: Thornhill, Cline Road, Scarva, Ervine Place, Scotch Street.

• Belfast City - £240,367 for installation of a new path and community garden in Botanic Gardens and helping to create a learning facility for soil enhancement, food production and testing.

• Causeway Coast and Glens - £98,600 to improve three currently derelict rural green spaces - Scally Park, Islandmore, and Dromore Avenue - and refurbish a rural play area in Glenullin.

• Derry City and Strabane - £104,944 contribution to Strathfoyle Greenway, a 2.7km long greenway, with street lighting controlled by a smart system to minimise energy consumption and impacts on wildlife.

• Fermanagh and Omagh - £81,288 towards replacement of obsolete timber walkways at Killyfole Lough, a suite of signage and nature trail interpretation, a biodiversity programme to include education booklets that link to the signage around the lough and an outdoor classroom in the adjacent 'Secret Garden'.

• Lisburn and Castlereagh - £103,752 towards a community garden and an intergenerational sports area in Lough Moss, Carryduff, disability access paths in Billy Neill MBE Country Park, Dundonald, and tree planting to replace those with ash dieback disease in Lisburn New Cemetery.

• Mid and East Antrim - £96,732 to enhance the basic infrastructure of five parks and open spaces.

• Mid Ulster - £104,600 to restore multi-use trails, improved car and bicycle parking, vegetation clearance, signage and seating and picnic areas in Drumcairne and Derrynoyd Forests.

• Newry, Mourne and Down - £126,733 to improve the Fallows Trail, a circular walking route from Kilbroney Park through the forested areas of Rostrevor Forest to open largely unenclosed upland habitats.

Chris Heaton-Harris, the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, said it was a "fantastic that every council area across Northern Ireland" would benefit.

"This investment in community infrastructure will deliver health and wellbeing benefits as well as improving the local environment, and builds on the £71m allocated to community projects across Northern Ireland from round two of the Levelling Up Fund last month," he explained.

This UKSPF funding will contribute to more than 20km of new or improved cycle ways or footpaths - the equivalent of the distance from Newry to Banbridge.

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• Everyone to live near green space or water - plan

It will also support 8,145m² of new or improved green or blue space this year.