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Rain Gardens and Cork City’s First Learn-to-Bike Park put Community on the Right Climate Track

28/10/2025

A Cork city community has planted rain gardens in the city’s first learn-to-cycle track as part of an exciting project backed by Cork City Council that is now being hailed as a model for other urban neighbourhoods.

The planting day at Railway Park, on the city’s northside on Saturday (Oct 25), marked the final chapter of a community-led climate project, which was supported by funding from the Community Climate Action Programme, the country’s Local Authorities Waters Programme (LAWPRO) and Cork City Council’s Parks and Recreation team. 

“It’s exciting to reach the planting stage and see everyone getting involved,” said Michael O’Sullivan of the Railway Park Community Group. 

“This shows what’s possible when a community has a vision for its green space and works with the city council to make it happen.”

The Railway Park community is drawn from the St Lukes, Summerhill North, O’Mahony Avenue, Wellington Road and Grattan Hill areas of Cork city."

The group got together in 2017 to improve their local green space, through cleaning, painting and planting. 

They made a successful application to the Community Climate Action Programme for funding to create the city’s first learn-to-cycle activity track in what was an old Irish Rail storage space they felt could be upgraded.

Construction of the cycle track began last summer and it has been transformed into a safe and secure space for children to learn to ride a bike safely, featuring child-friendly road markings designed to help children learn about road safety in a fun and practical way.

While the amenity was closed to facilitate works, the city council’s parks and recreation team added further play elements to the playground area, including an active climber unit with monkey bars, a Springer and five play panels.

LAWPRO funding boosted the project’s environmental impact by introducing a nature-based solution to address surface water issues that could damage the cycle track. 

Cork City Council installed four rain gardens around the track to “slow the flow” of surface water by retaining it in the rain gardens. This will create a vibrant green space that reduces the impact of heavy rain on the track itself. 

“These demonstrator projects give us an opportunity to trial and monitor new ways of working, like nature-based solutions,” said Sharon McDonnell, Senior Executive Planner and Chair of the Sustainable Urban Drainage (SuDS) working group at Cork City Council.

“What we learn here will inform future projects and help us build climate resilience across the city.”

This project shows how communities and councils can work together to create greener, safer spaces while tackling climate challenges.

The Community Climate Action Programme is funded by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment and the Local Authority Waters Programme Nature-based Solutions funding programme is funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Some €860,000 has been allocated to Cork City for projects run by community, voluntary and non-profit groups located in the local authority area to help deliver projects in areas including community energy, travel, food and waste, shopping and recycling, and local climate and environmental action.  

 

More details on the Cork projects funded by the Community Climate Action Programme can be found here: 

https://publications.corkcity.ie/view/1045657196/ 

 

LAWPRO

LAWPRO stands for Local Authority Waters Programme that is funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. It’s a national shared service that works on behalf of all 31 local authorities to protect and restore good water quality in rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal waters, and groundwater.

Here’s what they do:

  • Coordinate water quality efforts under the EU Water Framework Directive
  • Implement River Basin Management Plans and support local authorities with resources and guidance
  • Engage with communities and stakeholders to raise awareness and involve people in caring for local water bodies
  • Use catchment science to identify issues and develop solutions for improving water quality

LAWPRO is jointly managed by Kilkenny and Tipperary County Councils, with about 60 specialist staff operating across five regions: Border, Midlands & East, South East, South West, and West.

 

Sustainable Drainage Systems

The Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) Demonstrator within Railway Park is funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage through the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) funding programme to support the construction of Nature-based Solution projects in urban areas.

The purpose of the demonstrator funding is to promote the use and mainstreaming of Nature-based Solutions to address societal challenges in terms of dealing with urban runoff pollution pressures, Climate Change (through rainwater management), whilst improving placemaking and increasing Biodiversity in urban areas. 

The Railway Park Demonstrator project will address and monitor the following 4 SUDS Pillars:

  • Water Quantity - reducing the volume of surface water going to the network
  • Water Quality – removing pollutants from the surface water
  • Biodiversity – creating a diverse ecosystem with a biodiversity net gain for the park
  • Amenity – Improved place-making and contribution to wellbeing
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