Campaigners claim that public confidence has been eroded by Liverpool council’s delayed progress on a plan to prevent building in parks.
Liverpool City Council promised to put over 100 parks in trusts in 2021 to prevent construction on them. However, after three years, this process has been approved for just one location—Falkner Square in Toxteth. It is now managed by the charity Fields in Trust. Those fighting for similar protections for Liverpool’s other green spaces are questioning why it is taking so long.
John McCombs, chair of Friends of Childwall Woods and Fields, said: “It’s clear that LCC underestimated and didn’t plan for the amount of time and effort it would take to complete the legal paperwork for each of our green spaces to be placed in trust.”
A spokesperson from Liverpool City Council said: “Legal discussions are now at a very advanced stage to progress with placing 20 of the city’s parks into Fields In Trust.
“This will include the 10 largest parks in Liverpool, which will see more than 1,500 acres of green space placed under the protection of Fields In Trust.
“It is hoped this process will be concluded by the summer.”
Nonetheless, these numbers are nowhere close to the over 100 green spaces that campaigners wish to see protected. Each one considered by residents to be ‘the lungs of the city’.
Mr McCombs said that the council wish to be seen “as environmental champions” through the Fields in Trust initiative. However, he claimed that “the heroes of this sorry tale are the unpaid, often unseen and very much underappreciated volunteers within Friends of Parks groups hard at work within many green spaces.”
He claimed that a much-anticipated initiative to restore natural habitats in the city region, the Local Nature Recovery plan, has not yet had any significant effect.
Mr McCombs concluded: “It was they who campaigned to put them beyond reach.
“LCC need to show their appreciation by putting in place a management plan that shows how they will work with the volunteers to meet the nature recovery requirements for each site.”
