Lease on two Monasterevin land parcels renewed

In another positive step towards revitalising Monasterevin, Kildare County Council has agreed to renew the leases on two parcels of land to the local Tidy Towns for continued use as a riverside park and a wildflower garden.

The first of these decided is on the Barrow banks in Passlands to the north of the town and right on the Laois border, where the council has agreed “to dispose of 0.8668Ha (2.1ac)” – approximately half a GAA pitch in area – for another five years at just €100 per year as the peppercorn rent, which the Monasterevin Tidy Towns will maintain as a riverside park.

The second bundle was a little smaller at 0.1006Ha (0.25ac) on the Main Street under the same terms, which is planned as a wildflower garden.

This was agreed as part of the Statutory Business on the recent agenda for the October meeting of the full council.

“This is an existing situation … basically, they’re being renewed for another five years,” said Cllr Kevin Duffy, the local representative.

“They are two gardens owned by the county council,” he explained.

“The one on Main Street is adjacent to the Fire Station, probably acquired when they (the council) got the station, and I think it was formerly a garden to one of the houses on the opposite side of the road,” he said.

“The other one you go over the Lifting Bridge out the old Portarlington Road, and its been a park for maybe the last 20 years, known as the People’s Park, and it was boggy land reclaimed by volunteers from the town,” he said.

“It’s actually owned by Waterways Ireland , but it was agreed the council would take it over, and now it’s nice there to walk along the river with the family,” he said.

“The Tidy Towns have had both parcels previously, and this is basically them being renewed for another five years,” he said.