Normally we wouldn’t comment on the content of other parties’ leaflets but Greenbank Labour’s New Year 2018 leaflet contained inaccuracies which need to be corrected:
Leaflet: ”Sefton Park Meadows’ to be designated as ‘Green Space’ in Local Plan’. We say: There is no such designation in the Local Plan agreed by the Council. The designation for Sefton Park Meadows is ‘Open Space’ having previously been designated ‘Green Space’ in the Unitary Development Plan (UDP).
Leaflet: ‘[this designation] protects the land from any future development.’ We say: Many acres of Green Space in the current plan have been built on since 2002, despite opposition from the likes of Cllr Lawrence Brown. Given this past record, can we really trust the Council to protect green spaces when the new plan provides weaker protection than the one it’s replacing?
Protecting Green Spaces; actions speak louder than words
Leaflet: ‘Liverpool’s Labour Council is committed to protecting our parks and green spaces’. We say: It is the brave and determined actions by a small but growing number of campaigners throughout the city which has saved Walton Hall Park, (most of) Woolton Woods, Allerton Priory, Calderstones Park and, yes, Sefton Park Meadows, along with many other smaller green spaces from all manner of planned built development. The Local Plan passes much of the small amount of Green Belt land within the city’s boundaries to the expansion of Liverpool John Lennon Airport. This makes a mockery of Labour’s claims to be protecting green spaces.
Leaflet: ‘…unsubstantiated claims about the ‘Meadows’ site distributed by the Green Party recently’. We say: In our last leaflet we warned of the threat to Sefton Park Meadows raised by the Mayor’s comments at the City Council meeting held on 15th November 2017. These were later reported in the local press. There were specific references to the Council developing housing on Sefton Park Meadows, these comments were made and confirmed, they are not ‘unsubstantiated’.
Leaflet: ‘…the planning application for this site was withdrawn nearly three years ago…’. We say: This is simply incorrect. The planning application is still live on the Council’s Planning Explorer website, reference number 15F/0110 with a status of REGISTERED.
Councillor Lawrence Brown: A consistent, long standing campaigner on protecting green space
Leaflet: ‘…it is disappointing, if unsurprising, to see the Green Party resorting to such tactics as we approach election time’. We say: we, Liverpool Green Party is the only party consistent in our opposition to the sell off and development threats to well loved and cherished green spaces, including Sefton Park Meadows, over the past five years and more. We don’t just do this at election time, Cllr Lawrence Brown was an initiator and has been an active member of the Save Sefton Park Meadows campaign since it began.
Leaflet: ‘The designation as ‘green space’ under the local plan draws a line under this issue… We say: All of the above plus a lot more evidence proves that Sefton Park Meadows are not safe in the long term. A watered down protection of green space in the Local Plan will leave planners in a difficult position in years to come when the current Mayor is no longer in post and developers are exploiting the loopholes that exist.
