We are delighted to announce that our own Red Lane has been selected as the next project in Galway City Council’s Greening the Laneways program. Following on from last year’s huge success with Greening the Rocky Road in Westside, the aim of the project is for locals to retake ownership of areas in their neighbourhood that have become run down and a venue for occasional anti-social activity.
Tiarnan McCusker, Environmental Awareness Officer with Galway City Council, said:
“As far as we are aware, the ‘Greening of the Laneways’ has not been done before in Ireland. It’s very much a community-led approach whereby Galway City Council will liaise with local residents, schools, libraries, community centres and youth groups to ascertain how they would like these laneways to be improved.
If we can get buy-in from the start and create a sense of ownership from the locals – and importantly the young people – then we hope it will pay dividends with a reduction in littering, dumping and graffiti and an increase in biodiversity.”
On Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th of July, from 2pm to 8pm, community action days will take place on the Red Land in Shantalla. This will involve both planting and painting murals on the walls by local residents and local young people. Artist Sufek West aka Marcus will complete a series of murals with themes and ideas to be suggested by participants.
Tiarnan McCusker continued:
“The actions days are a chance for locals to be involved in transforming these sometimes dull and unstimulating spaces into something the whole community can be proud of. Edible planting, bee friendly flowers and colourful murals will create a much more pleasant environment for everyone.’’
This initiative is funded by the Government of Ireland through the Anti-Dumping Initiative 2022.