Mid Ulster District councillors have approved Phases 2 and 3 of the eagerly-awaited Railway Park outdoor development in Dungannon, and frustration was expressed at last Thursday’s (February 13) development meeting that it has taken so long to get to that stage.
Phase 2 will see the delivery of a recreation and sports area, while Phase 3 will promote active travel and connectivity through a bridge linkage.
Phase 1, focusing on Landscape and Infrastructure, was approved at a Development committee meeting held in May 2024. With phases 2 and 3 now approved, council officers will be able to move to the next stage of the capital planning process.
The team behind the revamp plans are clearly enthusiastic about the potential being offered by the upgrade scheme, outlining their vision for a revamped park as follows: “Free to visit and open every day of the year, revitalised Railway Park is for everyone.
“Get active with a gentle stroll, use the sports pitches or bike ride, or families may play on the grass and inclusive playgrounds.
“Connect across the town on foot and bike, passing through nature in some of Dungannon’s largest open spaces and valuable habitats for wildlife.
“Enjoy markets, concerts, year-round events and community projects. These concept proposals will redefine Railway Park by creating a multifunctional park rather than only grass and path.
“The community will be provided with a variety of usable and active outdoor spaces through a series of landscape experiences.
“The underpass will be safe and celebrated with art and lighting, the pathway route will be tree-lined, lighting improved and altered for pedestrian and cyclists around an opened-up, new, safe useable multifunctional space next to the car park, leading to new bridge connection.
“These improvements provide a safer, greener and cleaner attractive route from the north and east, from Miltown park community to the centre of the park and Dungannon.
“Sport and the character of the ecological habitats encourage the community to be active, to use the park and treat it as an outdoor facility.
“[Enjoy] a recreation sports area surrounded by ecologically-rich park areas, with organic meandering pathways, wetlands and natural play areas.
“The proposals will retain areas of rich vegetation, and will create new areas to stimulate flora and fauna habitat creation and diversity.”
Commenting on the Railway Park plans, Councillor Barry Monteith (Independent, Dungannon DEA) stated at the committee meeting: “I’m just glad to see the Railway Park stuff moving on. I’m happy to propose it.
“Boots on the ground is what’s needed to get this done and dusted. This is a project that’s going back now almost 20 years, both in Dungannon and Mid Ulster.
“Mostly the community that lives around here have lost all faith that it’ll ever happen, so hopefully we’re about to get a bit of progress on it.”
Cllr Dominic Molloy (Sinn Féin, Dungannon DEA) echoed Cllr Monteith’s views: “Happy to second the proposals. As Cllr Monteith says, hopefully we’ll see some work on the ground starting, because we’ve been through numerous of these concepts, numerous DEA meetings between councillors, officers, and those that are drawing up the concepts, so we need to push on with this.
“This Dungannon project has lagged behind many of our other towns and villages, and projects that have been rolled out and completed to date, so it’s time now for this one to get some working on.”
