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Date: 4 November 2026
Category: News
Construction has started on a new sensory garden and inclusive play area at Woodvale Park, creating a dedicated outdoor space for children and young people with additional needs and disabilities.
The new facility will transform the park's former disused bowling green into an accessible and engaging destination designed to support play, learning and wellbeing for children with additional needs and disabilities, while providing a valuable resource for families, carers, schools and community groups.
This latest project is part of the council's ongoing investment in Belfast's parks and open spaces, improving facilities across the city to support health, wellbeing, inclusion and active participation. It follows a number of recent improvements, including the completion of the Highfield community garden, the restoration of the Ormeau Park bandstand and a range of accessibility improvements that are helping make Belfast’s green spaces more welcoming an accessible for everyone.
At the heart of the Woodvale Park development is a dedicated sensory garden, designed to provide a safe, stimulating and inclusive environment where children can play, explore and connect with nature. The garden will feature sensory planting, an acoustic area, a storytelling circle, seating, signage and carefully designed landscaping to support sensory play, relaxation and social interaction.
A range of accessible and inclusive play equipment will also be installed alongside new earthwork grass mounds, hard and soft landscaping, boundary fencing and extensive planting.
The project has been specifically designed to address a lack of suitable play provision for children with additional needs and disabilities in the Greater Shankill area. It was inspired in part by the experiences of local resident and Snowflakes Family Support Group member Katie Spence. Growing up, Katie, who is autistic and partially sighted, had limited access to play and leisure facilities that could safely meet her needs. Her family's experience helped highlight the lack of inclusive outdoor spaces for children and young people with additional needs in the area.
Over a number of years, families involved with Snowflakes often had to travel elsewhere in Belfast to access suitable facilities. The vision for an inclusive sensory garden at Woodvale Park emerged from conversations about how the site's disused bowling green could be transformed into a dedicated outdoor space closer to home.
Councillor Ian McLaughlin, Chair of the council's Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, said:
"We're delighted to see work begin on this exciting new sensory garden at Woodvale Park. By transforming a disused area of the park, we're creating a lasting community asset where children and young people with additional needs and disabilities can play, explore and thrive in a safe and welcoming environment.
“This investment reflects our commitment to the Belfast Agenda's ambitions of reducing inequalities, improving health and wellbeing and creating a city that is inclusive and accessible for everyone."
Due to open in Spring 2027, the sensory garden is expected to become an important resource for local schools supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities, and the Snowflakes Family Support Group, providing opportunities to host sensory-focused activities and events that complement existing programmes in the park.
Ashleigh Spence, from Snowflakes Family Support Group, said:
"For families like ours, having access to suitable outdoor spaces can make a huge difference. Snowflakes was founded to create opportunities for children and young people with additional needs, and it's wonderful to see that same vision reflected in this new sensory garden and play area.
"Having a facility like this on our doorstep will give local families a welcoming place where children can play, explore and build confidence in an environment designed with their needs in mind."
When completed, the new sensory garden and inclusive play area is expected to become a destination facility for families across North Belfast, creating opportunities for play, social connection and wellbeing in an environment designed around the needs of children and young people with additional needs and disabilities.