Works to start on €700,000 People’s Park to provide infrastructure for community gatherings

WORKS are set to get underway imminently on the Ballyfermot People’s Park, which is estimated to cost between €700,000 and €1 million, by Hayden Moore.

The Ballyfermot People’s Park is located next to the Civic Centre and has been a green space for the community since the surrounding houses were built in 1955.

This new re-imagined design of the park will provide infrastructure for community gatherings with space for markets and an open pergola structure.

A people’s park in Ballyfermot was an idea that was floated over a decade ago when Cllr Jackson was Mayor of Dublin City Council, but when the economy slumped, the plans were shelved.

Last year it was reignited and following a public consultation process, the People’s Park will finally come to fruition.

The aim of the park is to provide a space for residents to engage with nature, music, storytelling and movement.

“What it’s going to incorporate is a much more passive welcoming greenspace with contoured landscape and increased access points,” Cllr Vincent Jackson said.

“At the moment you can only get in off Ballyfermot Road, so access is limited and a lot of people would walk by the park every day and not even realise it’s there.”

Multiple access points will be created, with increased footpaths and new entrances along the Drumfinn Road.

Adding to the amenity of the park, the Ballyfermot Civic Centre are going to move its restaurant from the first floor to the ground floor and create a direct access point out in to the re-imagined public space.

“There is going to be a live Christmas tree in the middle of the park and there is scope there to have festive markets there over the Christmas period as well,” Cllr Jackson says.

“There is a market in St Anne’s Park once a month and next summer we’re going to trial that and see how we get on, it could be a total game changer.

“It has been a very participatory process with people from the community engaging in it.

“We had two open days last year in the park and people were able to come in and almost dream what a re-imagined version of the park could be like.

“Up until this point it has just been a flat space and now it is being designated which means that it’s receiving the necessary protection to ensure that people don’t get any ideas around what could be there instead.

“It’s a necessary public amenity and we’re now designing it in a way that enables us to have a sustainable park, with our community buying into that.”

Encompassing local stories and histories of the Ballyfermot people, an art installation will take centre stage in the park when its’ completed – which is expect to cost in the region of €100k alone.

The commencement of construction is expected to start before the end of July.

Dublin City Council were approached for comment but The Echo did not receive one at the time of going to print.