£65,000 scheme at Hoy's Meadow

The council-owned area will be enhanced with new fencing and gates, lighting and amenities such as bins, seats, picnic tables, fishing stands and resurfacing work.

A further £28,000 is to be spent on a ‘visioning plan’ for Water Street and Bann Boulevard as well as Margretta Park/Tandragee Road in Lurgan.

The money has come from the Department of Justice under its ‘Together Building a United Community Programme’.

The area is one of five ‘interfaces’ in Portadown designated by the department as suitable for community development.

They are Charles Street/Charles Park, Charles Street/Corcrain Road/Craigwell Avenue, Corcrain Road/Obins Avenue, Curran Street/Northway and Bann Boulevard.

The recommendation was approved unanimously at the council’s leisure and community services committee and member Councillor Darryn Causby said the money needed to be spent by March.

He added, “The work will be done in consultation with the community. This is an area I have been working on for a few years now and it is a very welcome development.”

The project still needs to be ratified by the full council.

In 2014, the gates and pillars at Watson Street - one of the entrances to Hoy’s Meadow - were restored and lighting installed in the tunnel.