Fingal County Council is currently undertaking the process of developing a Park Development Plan for Bremore Regional Park. As part of that process an informal public consultation process is underway to glean local insight and knowledge to input into the park development plan design process.
The initial consultation workshop held in Balbriggan on July 30th 2019 gave members of the community the opportunity to input into the design process through verbally and visually communicating their thoughts and feelings for how the park should be designed and what function, activities and elements it should contain. An online forum for responses was also established for people unable to attend the workshop evening.
The full listings of the results from the evening’s workshop tasks can be found in this report.
A second and final consultation workshop will take place on the 5th November in the Bracken Court Hotel (6.30-8pm) to present draft proposals for review and feedback before the formal planning stage.
The respondents of the previous evening’s workshop listed a range of preferred park features, functions and elements they felt should form part of the 20 year development plan.
Ranking high amongst the response was that the park and by extension the beach should be inclusive and be accessible to all.
The existing historical structures and buildings on site and their sensitive restoration and reuse featured highly as an important element of the future park’s development. As well as reuse of the existing buildings, proposals for a new structure for community use in the form of a pavilion building were also mentioned by some groups.
Unsurprisingly, given the parks coastal location, the provision of facilities to aid and support water based activities was a common theme across the workshop groups with the provision of a tidal pool and diving board ranking high in the feedback. Other highlighted activities included athletics, running, cycling, skating, basketball, abseiling and archery.
The need for Bremore Regional Park to support everyday use was also expressed through the need for basic infrastructural elements such as toilets/ changing facilities, park circulation foot paths/ coastal walk, lighting and signage as well as seating, car and bicycle parking highlighted in group’s responses.
Facilities for children were also expressed as an important part of the parks design with play areas and fairy gardens being suggested as well as a Scout Den to form part of the plans.
Biodiversity and sustainability were also themes that came through from the groups as important to the community with requests for renewable energy and electric car charging points.
The ability for the park to cater for events was another notable theme to come through with an amphitheatre and events area being mentioned in responses.
Click the cover below to open the full report.
