As part of an exciting and collaborative new project, Galway City Council is partnering with local residents and young people in a number of local areas to ‘green’ city laneways and transform them into vibrant, playful and nature-friendly spaces for all of the community to enjoy.

The premise of the project is for local residents and young people to plant flowers, shrubs and an ‘edible landscape’ with the help of Galway City Council Parks staff. Local residents will then take over the maintenance of the planting in the future. Local residents and young people will also be involved in painting vibrant, nature-based murals along the laneways with the help of professional artists.

Tiarnan McCusker, Environmental Awareness Officer with Galway City Council, said:

“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.”

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.

To find out more and to get involved in the action days greening the laneways in general email environment@galwaycity.ie