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our ground 2012
Since 2007 Our Ground has reported on the loss of public open
green space across Merseyside. This reflects a national phenomena: the
wholesale disposal, loss and privatisation of public open space in towns
and cities throughout Britain. more
Whinlatter Forest, Cumbria
Public Forest Estate - Privatisation
The Bishop of Liverpool is chair of the Independent Panel
on Forestry who said: "Although our Panel was born out of fierce
debate over the future of the public forest estate, what has become apparent
through our work so far is that we must look at the future of all woods
and forests, not just the one fifth managed by the Forestry Commission".
The forestry
panel's interim report was published in December 2011 with the final
report to be recommended to the Secretary of State this April.
Click here for FT Weekend Magazine feature, the Woodland's Trust response,
more pictures and information on the public forest estate issue
contents
updated 6 February 2012
news on this page
Public Forest Estate - Privatisation
Festival Gardens up date
'Big Society' Localism Act made law
Land Trust call for land
they giveth...
Otterspool Promenade
2011 news
Our Ground at the Bluecoat art
gallery
Garden Festival Site update
English Forests and Woodlands privatisation
Priory Wood
Langtree's finger-block plans on Otterspool Promenade
2010 news
Festival Gardens AGM and new
park
Liverpool's mess in Stanley
Park
Otterspool Park land sold
Work starts on Festival Gardens Park
Campaign web site lost
'Dutch Farm' green space sold
The Value of Urban Parks
Sefton Park Lake
2009 news
Otterspool Park Privatisation and
open letter of objection to City Council
NWDA fund Festival Gardens Park
Festival Gardens sewage disaster
Liverpool's Year of the Environment 2009
Springfield Park Privatisation
Stanley Park and privatisation plans
Sefton Park cafe deadlock
Tate "5th floor" debate
Festival Gardens & Promenade
Millbank Playing Fields Privatisation
Otterspool Park
2008 news
Secretary of State gives go-ahead
for Festival Gardens scheme
Festival Gardens Public Inquiry ends
Anfield - new design for LFC
U-boat U532 moved to Woodside Ferry Terminal
Biennial Pavilions
Brief history of Stanley Park
Stanley Park
2007 news
Otterspool Promenade Privatisation
Disposal
Garden Festival Site Inquiry
Campaign & call for Inquiry
Stanley Park Privatisation & Stadium
Stanley Park Restoration
Millbank Playing Fields Privatisation
Parks Forum
Village Green protection status
Princes Park
Sefton Park
Dixie Dean Memorial Playing Fields Privatisation
inquiry
Speke Park Privatisation and Speke
Parade
Walton Hall Park
Festival Gardens - Langtree's poisoned chalice?
Disaster strikes the Festival Gardens Park development
once again with the unfortunate collapse of Groundwork Merseyside on the
30th January. Groundwork were appointed managing agents for the park by
the Land Trust, the Trust teamed up with Langtree in 2006 to take ownership
of the Gardens when restoration is complete. If Langtree, the multi-million
pound financiers, property developers and current landowner of the site,
had managed to deliver it's promise to complete the park last summer then
Groundwork might have been in a different position today.
No reliable date for the completion and opening of the park has so far
been announced. But as soon as the park is open to the public then Langtree
can start to make advance sales on it's Festival Gardens properties. On
completion of the works and the approval of the underlying methane gas
management strategy by Liverpool Council the lease of the gardens to the
Land Trust and the development site to Langtree will be completed.
During the Public Enquiry in 2007-8 Langtree presented detailed plans,
drawn up by Planit, to create a new park as part of a deal for their property
development on the site to be wholly funded by them and to provide a £2m
dowry for ongoing maintenance of the park. However, the enquiry inspector
imposed a planning condition agreed by the Secretary of State that Langtree
complete and open the park before any properties can be sold.
An economic downturn and the bankruptcy of Langtree's partner Mclean looked
like the development might not go ahead. But in 2009 a £3.7m
park restoration and maintenance grant was awarded to Langtree through
the now defunct NWDA to develop a private but publicly accessible park.
Mayfield was appointed by Langtree to build a new park to Planit's designs.
By February 2011 Langtree and it's park partners the Land Trust were advising
Liverpool's Environment
and Climate Change Select Committee that the park would be open ahead
of schedule later that spring. But on the 8 July 2011 Mayfield unfortunately
went into liquidation leaving park work incomplete.
On 22 Dec 2011 Langtree
published a press release blaming delays for finishing the park on
it's contractors Mayfield for sub-standard work even though Langtree's
design and management team were on site overseeing all works. Tolent are
now completing the works.
It is only now, because of questions from the public and Our Ground,
that Liverpool City Council is trying to find out what terms were
agreed by the NWDA regarding the joint funding between the government
and the £1.6m European Regional Development Fund to Langtree for
completion of the Festival Gardens Park.
The recent history of Langtree's plans and deals to build a 'village'
at the heart of the Festival Gardens is detailed and complicated. Our
Ground can only offer a brief glimpse of this unfolding story and
of the City Council's support for plans to build 1,308 compact dwellings
on stilts on top of an unregulated landfill site plus 66 luxury 'townhouses'
in a row of 7 finger-blocks (up to 8 stories high) along and over the
public open green space of Otterspool Promenade - including public
land the Council has agreed to give to Langtree. If the City of Liverpool
had any policy for building sustainable family homes then there may have
been a different outcome for permissions to build these 936 - 2 bed and
372 - 1 bed apartments.
The reason for Liverpool's rush of enthusiasm to support Langtree's Festival
Gardens development is because for many years the Council have regarded
the site as an eye-saw on the southern gateway to the city. The Festival
site also represents an embarrassing badly drawn out land lease agreement
- where the site owner's lack of maintenance and dereliction of responsibility
could not be legally challenged by the freeholder Liverpool City Council.
bookmark this site for further updates
4 Feb 2012
see previous Our Ground updates on
the Festival Gardens since 2007
Riverside
Drive residents view of the Festival Gardens
Langtree
group plc - Festival Gardens
The
Land Trust - Festival Gardens
Festival Gardens, Liverpool 2006 & 2007
click
here to see this view in 1984 - from the BBC
'Big Society' Localism Act made law in November 2011
This is a radically new Act which will change the way local
planning authorities can operate and establishes powerful new rights for
local people and communities to hold their local authorities to account.
It's early days yet and how this Act will work in practice remains to
be seen.
The Bill will enable regional planning to be swept away and in its place
neighbourhood plans will become the new building blocks of the planning
system where communities have the power to grant planning permission if
a local majority are in favour.
Effectivly this act was born out of the European
Landscape Convention which the last Labour government signed up to.
Our Ground looks forward to positive outcomes and benefits of
this new Localism
Act.
Also see: local
government news & published Localism Bill
Land Trust call for land-owning organisations to help Big Society
The Land Trust believe communities across the country are
crying out for more public green spaces that can act as an outdoor escape,
improving the neighbourhood's well-being and boosting the local economy.
The Land Trust is urging organisations to make their non-core land available
to local communities by creating open public spaces that can be enjoyed
by all, whilst increasing profitability for the landowner. Through this
scheme the Trust is utilising the benefits of the 'Big Society' Localism
Act made law in November 2011. click
here for more Land Trust details
The Trust supports last October's parliamentary report calling for non-core
Government land to be developed for the greater good of a Big Society
but stresses its recommendations must go further so that land must be
transferred with the means to sustain long term development and so that
local communities can benefit from the regeneration of sites.
more on this Land Trust item
they giveth and they taketh away
Planning authorities can sell-off the public land we collectively own and are only required to publicise these disposals by placing a small advertisement in a local newspaper. There is currently no centralised resource of freely available information regarding the disposal, sale and privatisation of public open space. It is incredible that notices are not required to be placed in the actual public open spaces to be privatised. Only discrete notices appear in a local newspaper. If regular users of these spaces were informed they would be able to object to the potential loss of public land.
During 2010 different central government departments had conflicting views over the value of public open green space. Some encourage local councils to sell off public land where others see the same public open space as an essential part of the urban infrastructure for a wide range of environmental, social and economic objectives and activities.
