Over 100 green infrastructure projects now under way

A whole raft of projects completed, ongoing or planned as part of the GI Action Plan were discussed during a meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Environment and Regeneration Committee.

The Derry and Strabane GI Plan provides a blueprint for the improvement and development of green and blue spaces across Derry and Strabane, and is the result of extensive public consultation. The strategy sets out a total of 184 actions to be delivered over the short, medium and long term up until 2032.

Karen Phillips, Director of Environment and Regeneration told Members that of the 184 actions prioritised, 114 have commenced, representing 62% of the overall plan, and 22 actions have already been successfully completed (12%).

Among the completed projects are a new tree management system for woodland across Council’s 800 hectare estate; the completion of the Kilfennan Valley Park, Ebrington and Clooney Greenways; NW Multi-modal Transport Hub completed; Strabane Canal path upgrade completed, to improve access to Strabane Canal; completion of the Sion Mills masterplan and the development and launch of Council’s Climate Adaption Plan.

SDLP Councillor Mary Durkan proposed the endorsement and the continuation of the delivery of the Green Infrastructure Plan. “It doesn’t seem long since we launched this scheme as a Council and it is encouraging to see the progress. There are so many exciting projects within the plan.”

Sinn Féin Councillor Paul Fleming seconded the proposal adding: “It’s a massive enterprise for the first year report. In terms of mental health benefits and the provision, we have seen that during Covid with the number of people making use of the walk ways. The team are to be congratulated.”

Committee Chair DUP Alderman Maurice Devenney added his support. “As a Council we have a duty to show leadership and take a proactive approach to such an important and time sensitive issue that impacts on the health and wellbeing of all our citizens,” he said. “The GI Plan is ambitious, but thanks to the dedication and hard work of Council and its environmental partners, so much has already been achieved since its launch in September 2019.

Council’s Lead Officer for Green Infrastructure, Christine Doherty,praised the partnership work that was enabling the delivery of the plan. “I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of the Green Infrastructure Stakeholders for their hard work, effort and commitment to continuing to deliver on a wide range of green infrastructure actions, despite the difficulties presented over the last year.

“Without this partnership approach, it would not be possible to deliver the ambitious green infrastructure plan actions over the short, medium & long term to 2032.”

Key actions completed to date:

*Boom Hall Conservation Plan completed.

*Top of the Hill green infrastructure improvements completed.

*Strabane Canal path upgrade completed, to improve access to Strabane Canal.

*Sperrins Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Officer appointed to deliver the associated action plan for this designated area.

*£200,000 from the National Lottery for Phase 1 of Acorn Farm, to develop a ‘Good Food Plan’ for the District and teach 100 families to grow food in their gardens.

*Council have created 6.1 ha of saline lagoons, saltmarsh and mudflat habitats at Culmore Country Park, as part of the restoration of Culmore Landfill Site.

*Developed and implemented Council’s Pollinator Plan. This included changing the grass management of 10 key greenspaces as part of the ‘Don’t Mow Let It Grow’ initiative, to create 25 ha of species rich grassland habitat (wildflower meadows) for pollinators on 3% of Council’s estate.

*New tree management system to manage the woodland on Council’s 800 ha estate across Derry City & Strabane District.

* St Columb’s Park Avenue planting completed.

*Kilfennan Valley Park, Ebrington and Clooney Greenways completed.

*NW Multi-modal Transport Hub completed.

*Sion Mills masterplan completed.

*A bat and bird protocol for the management of Council’s trees and buildings.

*Partners planted over 30 ha of woodland and 11 km of hedgerows, to create habitats and essential ecosystem services.

*Partners have cleared scrub and blocked drains at Moneygal Bog.

*Installed the first permanent bat recording station in Northern Ireland, which is currently monitoring six out of the eight species within the District, to monitor long-term trends and conserve this European Protected Species.

*Developed and implemented Council’s Non-native Invasive Alien Species Strategy.

*Surveyed and created plans and controlled over two ha of invasive species on Council’s estate.

*Council’s Climate Change Adaption Plan has been developed and launched

*Emissions baseline for the District completed.

*Conducted visitor number surveys of key greenspaces to assess the increase in visitor numbers to Council’s parks during COVID-19.

*Council hosted a Green Infrastructure and Climate Change conference in 2019.

*Green infrastructure and eco-zone webpages to promote green infrastructure best practise projects and for school children to use during COVID-19 pandemic.

*Several media campaigns for ‘Don’t Mow Let It Grow’, ‘I Can Grow’, ‘Natural Capital Account’ and ‘fly tipping’.

*Appointed an Environmental Officer for the Riverine Project.

*You can find out more about all the objectives set out in the Green Infrastructure Plan for Derry and Strabane at www.derrystrabane.com/GI