Hundreds of acres of Liverpool green space to be 'sealed' by city council

Critics have called on the city to move quicker to protect parks

Hundreds of acres of green space across Liverpool are set to be "sealed" by the city council to protect them from being built on.

In 2021, the local authority signed an agreement with the charity Fields in Trust (FIT) to protect 100 greenspace sites covering over 1,000 hectares of land in the city through a process of legal land use agreements.

As part of the agreement, each park and green space required a "deed of dedication" which ensures sites be retained for use as parks, playing fields or recreation in perpetuity.

Liverpool Council has faced criticism at the speed it has moved to protect the city's 135 parks, with only one location - Falkner Square Gardens in Toxteth - subject to the pledge in two years.

However, the city wants to complete a major phase of the project by this summer which could protect major sites like Croxteth Country Park for years to come. Around 630 hectares could be subject to the dedication by the end of this year.

According to documents submitted to the sustainable, safe and thriving scrutiny committee ahead of their meeting next week, the first phase of the Fields in Trust agreement included the 10 principal city parks such as Sefton, Stanley and Newsham, as well as 10 smaller green spaces in areas identified as requiring protection because of "local acute strategic need."

The legal agreement with FIT required the council seal a deed of dedication, dedicating the property as open space. The deed is noted on the Land Registry title to the property along with a restriction on the title requiring FIT's consent to any dispositions of the land.

The deed required the council to ensure it would not permit the land to be used for anything other than as a public playing field, recreation ground and open space, including buildings and structures which support sport and recreational uses.

The agreement came about after some of the city's valued spaces came under threat of development as "political leaders of the time sought to find solutions to the financial challenge the city faced through austerity."

This threat created an understandable resistance from communities and led to several notable campaigns against specific developments.

Campaigners had called on the council to move faster to protect green spaces, after Falkner Square became the only site to be formally "sealed" in 2023.

The first phase of the programme has now completed the protection of sites including Walton Clubmoor Recreational Ground; Princes Park; Newsham Park; Wood Lane Park (Woodlands Park); Sefton Park; Wavertree Botanic Park; Thomas Lane Playing Fields; St Johns Gardens; Gore Street Public Open Space; Stapleton Avenue Public Open Space; Phythian Park and Norris Green.

The remaining parks in phase one; Calderstones Park and Parkhill Public Open Space have been sealed by the council and are due to be sealed by FIT imminently. Dedication plans for Everton, Stanley, Otterspool and Walton Hall parks are being finalised.

Owing to its wide mix of tenants, the city's largest park, Croxteth Country Park is subject to an engagement exercise with stakeholders to finalise its own plan.

City officials hope to complete the dedication of all the phase one parks by this summer, representing around 50% of Liverpool's green spaces.