Cllr anxious for work to start on major Navan park

A schedule for the delivery of Navan"s new town park will be produced by Meath County Council management following a call for work to start on the project. Fianna Fáil councillor Shane Cassells made the demand for work to begin at an area meeting of the council last week, saying there is €1m in funding already in the bank to allow this to happen. Navan Area Manager Eugene Cummins agreed that the project was of immense importance to Navan and committed to have a report ready on the delivery of the park for the next meeting iof the area council in February. Cllr Cassells said that the proposed public park was 'needed now more than ever' and remarked that people had 'waited long enough for a sod to be turned on the site'. He said: 'We have been working on these plans for the new 66-acre park for over four years now and it is essential that work begins as soon as possible. 'During that time, we have opened and developed a number of pocket parks around the town with the one on Boreen Keel proving very successful. When you see the amount of children being brought to that facility to use the playground or new astro-pitch, you get a sense of how badly a large park is required,' he added. Meath County Council has received a total of €750,000 in sports capital funding towards the construction of the park and, combined with internal revenues, possess a balance of €1m for immediate works. Although the projected costs for the project are in the region of 10 times that amount, the council members have called on management to begin drainage work and basic landscaping to at least allow people access to the area. The new park will be situated on a 28-hectare site at Abbeylands between the Windtown Road and the River Blackwater. The scheme has been designed by landscape architects Ferguson McAlveen, and was approved by Bord Pleanála in May 2005.