Three community gardens to be created in Louth this year

Louth County Council is to create a community garden in Dundalk, Ardee and Drogheda this year, councillors were informed at the Louth County Council February meeting.

Councillors were asked to adopt three new additions to the 3 Year Capital Programme 2024-2026 at the February meeting, with the new community gardens being one of them, the other two being the Phase 1 Feasibility Study for the Millmount Handball Alley at a cost of €150,000, and repairs to be carried out on the Millmount Wall at a cost of €200,000.

With regards the community gardens, the members were informed that the proposal was to create the three gardens at a cost of €1500, funded from amenity development levies.

Chief Executive Joan Martin told the February meeting that the plan was to create the gardens on land owned by the Council. Ms Martin said that the location she had in mind in Dundalk is the site of the old community garden at Muirhevnamor beside Dundalk Mens' Shed's new location.

In Ardee, Ms Martin said that they are probably looking at the land the Council purchased a number of years back, between the old railway station and the N33, with the garden being located somewhere on that stretch of land.

In Drogheda, the planned location for the garden is a piece of wasteland at Moneymore, beside the site that is earmarked potentially for a new community hub.

There will be funding opportunities, the Chief Executive added, under a number of programmes, which may include the LEADER programme, and the Town and Village scheme.

Ms Martin said that they would be looking at each case with the community, because community gardens are developed by the community, adding that a lot of physical voluntary community work would needed to develop them, with the funding being used for items like renting machinery for land clearance, planting, and other necessary infrastructure.