Four sites have been chosen across the city
The Green Party has questioned an urban wildflower meadow plan across Belfast.
At a Belfast City Council committee meeting, Green Councillor Anthony Flynn voiced concerns about a pilot project that aims to identify one site for a wildflower meadow in each quadrant of the city. It follows a notice of motion that was passed by the council in September 2023, and since then £50,000 has been earmarked for the project.
After a series of workshops council officers identified a preferred site for each quarter of the city. In North Belfast Glencairn Park has been chosen for a wildflower meadow, in the South Ormeau Park, in the East Belmont Park, and in the West, Brook Leisure Centre. The council officer report states: “Site prioritisation is based on ecological, community and education benefits along with feasibility and resourcing.”
READ MORE: Call for dedicated space to stop scrambling “wreaking havoc in communities”
READ MORE: Botanic Gardens 24 hour opening proposals “a travesty” as groups “firmly” against plans
Councillors were briefed at the recent meeting of the People and Communities Committee at City Hall, where they also learned about a successful half million funding award bid to the Stormont Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.
Stormont is offering Belfast Council £472,000 through the DAERA Challenge Fund, and the council will add £50,000 to this for a total of £522,500, dedicated towards a “Nature Recovery Network” across Belfast increasing habitat extent, condition and connectivity for nature and people.
The criterion for the fund involves “nature and climate recovery, building ecological and climate resilience” to maintain and improve landscape, water, habitats, species and “earth science conditions.” The council had to prove its plans involved “connecting with the natural environment, understanding it and taking action to have a positive effect on it.”
A council report states: “Conservation Management Plans will be developed for key BCC sites and habitat enhancement plans for a suite of sites across Belfast. A public awareness campaign and training will be undertaken for staff and stakeholders. Opportunities to create demonstration sites and share knowledge will be identified.”
At the recent meeting of the People and Communities Committee at City Hall, councillors noted the DAERA funding and agreed to proceed with project implementation on the urban meadow sites.
Despite the unanimous agreement, the Green Party criticised the urban meadow plan, while welcoming the half million fund. Councillor Flynn said: “It is good to see the DAERA money coming in.”
He added: “We talked last year about ecological baselines, about zoning, about wildlife management plans, conservation plans, the local biodiversity action plans, all these things we need to get right.
“When it comes to this project, we need to be looking at opportunities, and use it as best as we can, particularly opportunities working with stakeholders. There are organisations out there who would be really useful to work with. We need to communicate to the public why we are doing the things we are doing, particularly when we have such a massive funding pot like this.”
He asked officers how the four wildflower sites were chosen. He said: “Ormeau has prairie woodland within it, and I can understand using money to conserve or manage that. In my view that would be the best use of that money (the 50K). When you are talking about delivering species with grassland, you need low nutrient levels.
“I want to know what scoring metrics we used to choose these sites. Belmont Park and Brook Leisure Centre for example – who did we speak to ensure we are actually choosing the right places for a wildflower meadow in those areas?”
He added: “We haven’t done the ecological baselines. We have all these parks and open spaces, and we don’t know what is there, we haven’t got it written down, and it hasn’t been updated in a long time.
“It is all well and good putting wildflower meadows in certain spaces, but is it the best use of the money that we have here? Could we not do something a bit better? I have spoken about managing invasive species, which is deeply important, and we can do a hell of a lot more with 50 grand. It is one of the most important things we can do to increase biodiversity.”
A council officer said: “(Regarding the) urban meadow notice of motion, we are using money identified for one year, £50,000 we have to spend this year. The sites chosen were on the advice of our two biodiversity officers, who have been very much involved in the choosing of the sites.”
He said: “We did create a long list, and what the teams did was assess the ecological benefits and viability of the project, and narrow them down to the sites we have identified, so we can get this piece of work done in this financial year.” He said the 50K was a “one-off pot.”
SDLP Councillor Gary McKeown said: “I very much welcome the inclusion of Ormeau Park in this, but I should highlight there is no point in planting a wildflower meadow if we are then going to dig it back up again to build a bigger Ozone. I just want to ensure we can afford officers a degree of flexibility beyond what is contained within these papers, should we be required to select a smaller or alternative site for elements of this.”
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter
#Green #Party #critical #wildflower #meadow #plans #Belfast
