Northern Ireland: Loyalist bonfire site transformed into £285,000 allotment in Belfast

The Rathfern Activity Area on a former loyalist bonfire site. Picture by Mal McCann

The Rathfern Activity Area includes 28 allotments

Brendan Hughes
Irish News
13 November, 2017

Excerpt:

In previous years the site has been used for an annual Eleventh Night bonfire.

The pyre in July was moved onto land adjacent to the new activity site while work on the council-funded projected continued.

A sign on a newly landscaped area of the activity site encourages people to “keep the park clean and free from litter”.

Antrim and Newtownabbey council, which was officially opened last month, said it hoped the new activity area would help encourage people to get “more active, more often”.

DUP councillor Thomas Hogg welcomed the project, saying it followed discussions with the Housing Executive and Education Authority to make the land available for use.

“That area lay vacant and unkempt for many decades but it has been developed to enhance the local area,” he said.

Read the complete article here.