Green Light for Lee Valley Park                      

The Minister for Tourism Ms. Mary Hanafin, TD, has announced that €3m is to be made available from Fáilte Ireland to Tralee Town Council for the proposed €4.2m Lee Valley Activity & Nature Park.  The Minister's announcement has been warmly welcomed by the Council and officials and allows work to commence almost immediately on the site works opposite the Aqua Dome at Ballyard.   The project has been a long term objective of successive Town Councils since 2000 and is expected to attract up to 70,000 visitors annually to Tralee.  Town Clerk Michael Scannell says the new development will help sustain existing jobs and create up to 20 new ones directly and demonstrates to all that Tralee takes tourism seriously. It will complement the Blennerville Windmill, Steam Railway and Aqua Dome, in particular, he said "and help to re-position Tralee in the green and nature tourism market."

The new 8 hectare eco-tourism development comprises a Nature Park focussing on the diversity of the internationally renowned Tralee Bay Nature Reserve. Novel features include a safari-style boat ride and viewing tower offering panoramic views of Tralee Bay. A new Visitor Centre will act as an interpretation centre of the estuarine wetlands and as an orientation centre for the natural history of west and north Kerry. The activity zone comprises a lake for light water sport activities, 2.3km of walking and cycling trails and a smaller lake stocked with fish.

The Council has worked closely with Failte Ireland South West, the National Parks & Wildlife Service, Institute of Technology Tralee, South West Fisheries, Holiday Tralee, and other local state and voluntary groups in developing its proposals. The project will be developed in stages over the next 9 months with site investigation works commencing before the end of June. It is planned to have it operational by the 2011 tourist season.  Access to the activity zone will be free but there will be a fee to access the nature zone. 

The architects for the new development are Scott Wilson, Belfast,  specialist advisors are the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), Slimbridge UK,   the civil and services engineers are Malachy Walsh & Partners based in Blennerville and Quantity Surveyors are Kane Crowe Kavanagh, Princes Street, Tralee.