Barrack Hill Town Park needs your help to create a 5 km off road walking and cycling trail and a wetlands area including a wildlife pond.
The Barrack Hill Town Park Steering Committee are seeking funding for a wildlife pond and a wetlands area with a 5km off road walk & cycleway loop adjacent to the Ballywilly Brook in Carndonagh. To allow them to make applications for funding they need to raise seed funding from the community.
An urban wetlands area was recommended by the Biodiversity Action Plan as a result of the Biodiversity Audit commissioned by ECO Carn, of which they are a member.
“This development will have multiple benefits for our community: It will enhance the biodiversity of the whole area where native flowers, hedges and trees will be protected and more will be planted providing food and shelter for many of our endangered pollinators and animals” said Carmel Doherty, Chairperson of the BHTP steering committee.
“It will provide access and a pathway along the Ballywilly Brook which will enable the removal of the invasive species of Himalayan Balsam and it will help to mitigate flooding by catching surface water in the pond and through the deep-rooted flowers and native trees in the wetlands which will assist water to sink into the ground”
The 5km cycling and walking route will be fully accessible to all and will allow the community to enjoy the beautiful blue and green spaces of the park. Families can enjoy the freedom and safety of an off road walking and cycling space with their children, while improving quality of life and physical and mental health.
“ We aim to link up the local schools, the town and housing estates again adding to our Decarbonisation Zone plan and the development of active travel in our area” added Carmel.
Flooding of the Millbrae is a perennial problem, and this development should help mitigate this problem using nature-based solutions. This development will also provide educational benefits to our young people in the form of biodiversity education, water testing and wellbeing benefits.
In addition it will act as a tourist attraction bringing economic benefit to our area and allow tourists and locals alike the opportunity to spend more time in an attractive and sustainable town centre.
How to support this initiative
The initiative has already gathered the support of much of the community including the schools, local businesses and sporting organisations behind this project. But they now need the whole community to get behind the steering committee as it will take a collective effort to make this happen. A GoFundMe page to raise seed funds that are necessary to apply for additional funding has been set up.
The committee was over the moon on Wednesday when they received a very generous donation of €2,000 from a local business ContactCentre.ie. The committee would like to thank everyone who has donated so far. Anyone interested in being involved in the campaign can email bhtpsc@gmail.com
