Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Council bids for £700k green space funding

These would include at least 11 parks, such as Palace Demesne Park, Tannaghmore Gardens, Lurgan Park and Dromore Park.

The Nature Towns and Cities Fund is managed by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Natural England, who aim to help councils and communities improve access to green space within urban neighbourhoods.

The funding is aimed at providing capacity to plan urban green space networks for the long term.

It also aims to support local authorities, community organisations and their partners to improve and grow networks of green space throughout their towns and cities.

A number of ABC Council officers from across the organisation came together to complete an expression of interest, in what was a relatively short application window.

If successful, the £709,800 funding will help develop a Parks and Open Spaces Strategy which aligns with the fund’s investment principles, by focusing on community participation, promoting sustainable growth, addressing social challenges and creating well-designed spaces.

Nature-based solutions will be adopted to ensure nature recovery and biodiversity are at the heart of future development.

Early feedback has indicated that a total of 276 expressions of interest have been received by the grants body, totally £170m in funding requests.

The funder has subsequently written to applicants to advise that due to the overwhelming number of applications, successful applicants will now be written to on January 31. An update will therefore be brought back to Committee in due course.

By 2028, the initiative wants to have supported places across the UK with grant investment, along with expertise and resources from their partners.

The aim is to place access to nature and nature recovery at the heart of local place-making, so that its benefits can be realised for health, prosperity, nature, heritage and local pride.

Another goal is to co-create with communities and partners ambitious green space strategies and improvement plans.

In addition, the ambition is to create strong and diverse partnerships between the local communities, businesses and local authorities that focus on the role of urban space in delivering better outcomes for health, wellbeing, heritage, transport, planning and nature.

Finally, another aim is to develop implementation plans that will transform the way public green spaces are utilised, managed and funded for the benefit of people and nature.

If successful, it is expected that the council will contribute 10 per cent match-funding to the Nature Towns and Cities Programme, however, funding can be in kind.

The proposed projects, should the council’s bid be successful, will help contribute to the local authority’s Climate and Sustainability objectives, by setting out a roadmap for the sustainable development of a number of the borough’s main parks and open spaces, with particular emphasis on promoting active travel.