New park in lower Shankill - we want you to help name this new park!

The new park at Lower Shankill is situated adjacent to the Westlink. It stretches from Peter’s Hill, just beyond the Westlink, to Regent Street adjacent to Clifton Street Orange Hall. It opens to the public in September 2023 following a major £1.9m development, creating an asset for residents in the Shankill.

This area has now been transformed by the new park which includes new fencing and surfacing; a MUGA (multi surface games area); two play areas - one for 0-3 year olds and one for 3-6 year olds, and exercise equipment. There is also a self-contained community garden including toilet facility and raised beds.

The Department for Communities delivered the project thanks to funding from their Building Successful Communities Programme. On completion, ownership of the park transfers to Belfast City Council.

During June and July 2023, we spoke to children attending the summer scheme programmes and “after schools” at the Hammer and Denmark Street Community Centres to help us identify some possible names for the park. We gathered ideas from the children and their parents as well as local community groups. We talked about the site and its historical background, and as a result, three suggested names were put forward.

The three names shortlisted are:

• Angel Park: In 2010/11 the Lower Shankill Youth Project, which operated from Denmark Street Community Centre, successfully worked with a number of young people who were engaging in anti-social behaviour in the area to change behaviours. The project came to be referred to locally as the “Lower Shankill Angels” and NIHE funded a statue of an angel to acknowledge its achievements. The statue is currently located at Peter’s Hill but will be relocated to the new park.

• Lower Shankill Park: this proposed name is a straightforward reflection of the geographical location of the new park.

• Rock Roots Park: this suggestion emerged from engagement with children and their parents during summer programmes and after school programmes. Staff at the community centres discussed the experience of watching the park being built with local children, focussing on what they saw. The children spoke about the rocks and rubble on site when development started with “muck” replaced by grass and how they have seen it transformed from the “roots” with trees, flowers and plants. From these ideas they settled on a suggested name of Rock Roots Park

We would like your help to choose which of these names should be selected for the new park.

Please vote and choose the name you prefer by filling in our survey. Voting closes at midnight on the 1 November 2023.