Letter to Louise Ellman MP

Garden Festival Campaign members delivered the following letter to Louise Ellman at her surgery October 2002. Since then of course there have been some new developments, but the main import of the letter is still highly relevant.

 The MP has taken note of our concerns: In the "Liverpool Echo", 18/10/02 she said

" Local people want regeneration, but they wish to preserve green space as part of a new development."

International Garden Festival Campaign

3rd October 2002

Dear Louise Ellman

We wish to express our concerns about Wiggins proposals for the Garden Festival Site and surrounding area. In the local media you expressed your concern about whether Wiggins will deliver on their development plans for the site. While we agree with the sentiments expressed in the article about the disgraceful neglect of the former garden festival site, we feel that Wiggins’ current plans are very seriously flawed. These plans, rather than contributing to the economic and environmental regeneration of the Mersey Waterfront, will irreparably damage what should be one of the jewels in the crown of the proposed Mersey Waterfront Regional Park.

As we are sure you are well aware, the Mersey estuary is by far and away the most important environmental asset in Liverpool; an SSSI, a designated Special Protection Area and a Ramsar site. This is also the only area of undeveloped coastline within your constituency. The Prom is extremely well used by pedestrians and cyclists and this section is the most popular one for recreational users because of the pleasant green aspect and distance from traffic noise, pollution and danger.

Wiggins proposals will remove this semi-natural aspect and replace it with a major road and hotel alongside much of the Prom. These proposals are in clear breach of several aspects of the UDP and of wider national planning guidance on topics such as disturbance of toxic waste, development of undisturbed coastline (PPG20), creation of new roads and biodiversity action plans for urban areas. The Government’s recently released Final report of the Urban Green Spaces Taskforce emphasises:

"-urban regeneration and renewal: helping to improve the quality of projects, creating community enterprise and new jobs;

-health: promoting healthy living and preventing illness, by providing places for physical activities, walking and cycling;

-social cohesion, community development and citizenship: encouraging involvement and local pride by giving people the chance to participate in design, management and care;

-education and life long learning: providing a valuable resource for learning about the natural world and local environment;

-environmental sustainability: countering the pollution which can make cities unbearable and unsustainable, and helping to promote ecologically sensitive towns and cities; and

- heritage and culture: parks and green spaces are reservoirs of collective memory, and provide venues for local festivals and civic celebrations."

The former GFS in potential can ideally fit all of these criteria. In 1999 a consultation was held which obtained considerable response from the local community. Wiggins current plans bear little relationship to the outcome of this consultation exercise and few people know of the current plans. On August 25th, the IGF Campaign set up a stall on the Prom and received 108 signatures within three hours, and we now have 350 members. The people of Liverpool deserve better than these disastrous plans.

The IGF Campaign wishes to participate, with the local community, in the creation of better plans to release the full potential of this important green space in line with the UDP and the aims of the Urban Green Spaces Taskforce as quoted above. We would very much welcome your involvement in enabling this to happen.

Yours sincerely

Lucy Page, Bryan Scott

The Garden Festival Campaign