Campaigners will be leafletting homes around Sefton Park today to make people aware of the Council’s plans to sell green field conservation land next to Sefton Park.
The land, known as Sefton Park Meadows falls within the Sefton Conservation Area, and was designated as Green Space in the Council’s Planning guidelines. It is next to Sefton Park at the where Queens Drive meets Park Avenue and the Iron Bridge. It is well used by local people for recreation and forms an important buffer between existing housing and the Sefton Park nature reserve.
The council’s proposal first appeared on March 15th and was agreed at the cabinet meeting on Friday 22nd March. The decision now goes to the Regeneration Committee for scrutiny on 4th April.
The proposal undermines the council’s own planning policy that protects the city’s green space.
Campaign organiser Martin Dobson says “There are plenty of brown field sites in Liverpool which could be used to build houses. It is really wrong to destroy some centuries old green land to cover a short term financial problem. The mayor himself said recently at a public meeting that the city has the infrastructure to accommodate a million people but that its population was less than half that number.”
The council is saying that the money would be used to make improvements to Sefton Park but has not presented any plans to do this. Councillor Sarah Jennings (St Michael’s Green party) says “The council has not consulted the Sefton Park Forum about either the plan to sell the meadow land, nor the proposal to use the money to develop the park. The whole idea has not had anything like enough thought”.
Councillor John Coyne (St Michael’s Green party) says “Housing on this site would add to traffic congestion on what is currently (wrongly) used as a major commuter thoroughfare. It is the main access point for the Palm House which already has problems with its many public events, and is closely located to a school at which parents park on the roadside to deliver their children.”
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For more information
Martin Dobson 07930760868
Councillor John Coyne 0151 727 7779
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Twitter saveseftonparkmeadows
web: http://saveseftonparkmeadows.blogspot.co.uk/