1,000 signatures reached
To: Wicklow County Council and the Government
Create a Community Nature Reserve in Greystones & Delgany
Help the people create a Community Nature Reserve in Greystones & Delgany.
Why is this important?
What if we made Greystones & Delgany greener, healthier and wilder?
What if we were the first region in Ireland to create biosecurity by 2026?
We can all be part of a legacy we can be proud of: handing over to our children and future generations an area that is climate-resilient and supports our wildlife to live alongside us. Please support this petition and we will bring it to the Government and Wicklow County Council to transform Greystones & Delgany (and North Wicklow).
Greystones & Delgany are currently undergoing a frenzy of development, with new housing estates approved and planted in every available field left. Not only is the infrastructure (roads, public transport links, schools, healthcare, etc.) not keeping up, but nature is taking a huge hit.
So what if the answer to overdevelopment was to create a Community Nature Reserve – a gift to current and future generations? Following 2 years of research by Eoin Llewellyn here are key realistic projects that can be implemented to rehabilitate nature.
• Expand the Glen of the Downs on both sides of the Three-Trout stream with permanent native forest.
• Return Kindlestown Forest to permanent native woodland (under the Government's new Project Woodland and/or Coillte's Millenium Forests programme) as each Sitka spruce plot is harvested, and link it to the Glen of the Downs SAC (Special Area of Conservation).
• Relist and protect the Bronze Age hillforts of Coolagad (Kindlestown) and Downshill, ahead of the millennial anniversary of the Battle of Delgany 1022. (see Yasmin Fortune's research on www.glenodownsheritage.com)
• Create 20-meter wide riparian ways and a nature reserve along the full course of the Three-Trout Stream, with green link path for people to walk and/or cycle to school and work. (see Eoin Llewellyn's research https://www.mywildireland.ie/projects/
• Add chestnut fencing and a raised boardwalk on South Beach to protect coastal flora and dune grasses from collapse, plus nature signage indicating plants and insects present.
• Create a coastal nature reserve on 2 fields east of the railway line above the North Beach, thus extending Bray Head SAC (Special Area of Conservation) into Greystones.
If this Nature Reserve was to see the light of day, Greystones & Delgany would become the first biosecure area in Ireland by 2026! At a time when successive lockdowns have highlighted the dire need for green spaces near urban centers, Greystones & Delgany could become a flagship example of a town living in harmony with nature, and a template to be replicated across the county and country.
As the next County Development Plan is being drafted, let's change the story of Greystones & Delgany - from a town besieged by suburban sprawl, to a place where a greener, healthier and wilder future is possible. See - https://www.mywildireland.ie/projects/