What greater legacy can we leave future generations than that of trees? This is the opinion of Councillor Malcolm Noonan, who has proposed an imaginative project to plant 400 native fruit trees around the city and environs to celebrate Kilkenny’s 400th Anniversary of the City Charter in 2009.
‘It ticks all the right boxes’, stated Cllr Noonan. ‘Urban wildlife, an acknowledgement of past settlement, food for communities and wildlife, community involvement, its all there’, he said. Cllr Noonan is proposing that the trees be planted by communities throughout the city in conjunction with the Local Authorities of Kilkenny City and County, Keep Kilkenny Beautiful, Transition Towns Committee, and other agencies.
‘So far I have received a positive response from the Environment Section of Kilkenny County Council and Kilkenny Borough Council, subject to funding. I believe we can raise the necessary funds through sponsorship and donations, the planting could be done for free, involving local communities and voluntary input in civic public spaces’, he stated.
The idea was first put forward at a meeting of the Kilkenny Transition Towns initiative. Transition Towns was first developed in Kinsale, Co Cork and since has spread rapidly throughout the UK and Europe as a community led means of bringing energy and food security to urban areas at a time where volatile oil markets and climate change are challenging communities worldwide. The fruit tree initiative was put forward as an idea to mark our 400th Civic Celebrations with a project is tangible to the people of Kilkenny and will be in place for future generations.
‘Following on from the work I have been doing on allotments, I think this is a lovely idea that I hope will capture the imagination of the people of Kilkenny as we re think food and wildlife in our cities. One of the forthcoming actions in our County Biodiversity Plan will be to focus on urban wildlife and with so many marks up for grabs in the wildlife category of Tidy Towns, this project could give us the magic numbers we need to win the competition outright. What an achievement that would be on the 400th anniversary of our City Charter’ concluded Cllr Noonan.
For further information on Transition Towns, check out www.futureproofkilkenny.org
