Town Team calls for public park for Strokestown
In a submission on the proposed variations to the county development plan, Strokestown Town Team put its case forward for a public park for the town.
A public park in Strokestown would benefit the town’s physical and mental health, according to the local Town Team.
In a submission on the proposed variations to the county development plan, Strokestown Town Team put its case forward for a public park for the town.
The proposed park would provide an accessible, informal open space within easy walking distance of the whole town. It would include a green lawn and trees, biodiversity and pollinator planting, seating and gathering areas, walking paths, with a layout designed for use by all ages and abilities.
The Strokestown Town Team requested that a single, specific amendment be made to the Strokestown Settlement Plan, changing the zoning of the lands known locally as The Canon’s Field from ‘Residential Opportunity Sites’ to ‘Leisure Tourism / Amenity’, “so that a public park can be established for the town”.
Strokestown has a documented deficit of such a public space, and The Canon’s Field, “centrally located and capable of being secured for community use”, could meet that recognised need, the submission said.
The Town Team emphasised that it supported the delivery of new homes in Strokestown and did not seek to reduce the town’s overall residential land bank. It argued that the site’s “modest residential capacity” could be replaced, several times over, at alternative locations within or adjoining the existing built-up footprint of the town.
“The request is therefore not a choice between homes and amenity, but a proposal for balanced development in which both are provided in the locations to which each is best suited.”
The Canon’s Field lies within a built-up area of the town and occupies a central position among the town’s principal community uses. It comprises two folios, one in the freehold ownership of the Diocese of Elphin. The Strokestown Town Team is in the course of entering into a long-term leasehold “in line with the diocese’s desire to see the site developed into a public park in partnership with the community”. The second folio is in the freehold ownership of Roscommon County Council. Together, the site is approximately 1.48 acres.
“Immediately adjoining or directly opposite the site are the Strokestown Primary Care Centre, the public playground and the Church of the Immaculate Conception, with established residential areas on all sides. The site is, in effect, the open green heart of an existing community quarter.” While the Town Team acknowledged the valued heritage asset of Strokestown Park House and its grounds, it respectfully argued that it did not satisfy the town’s need for public green space.
“The grounds are held under a lease to the Irish Heritage Trust rather than in public ownership, and could in future revert to wholly private use, while the community has no say in decisions concerning the use or development of the Park House and its lands,” the submission continued.
“An accessible, level, town centre park adjoining the primary care centre and medical centre would provide an inclusive setting for gentle exercise, social contact and outdoor activity, supporting the physical and mental wellbeing of an older and less healthy than average population,” the submission added.
