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Wirral Waters Green Grid
Strategic Environment Initiatives
Town & Country Planning February 2015 77
this in the North End of Birkenhead. Ilchester Park
itself was never considered a park until 2014 – it has
only recently been adopted as a park by the local
authority. Before that, it was simply a neglected
green space in the middle of a windswept housing
estate that had seen better days.Ann McLachlan,
the local ward councillor and Deputy Leader of
Wirral Council, explains how much has changed:
‘Ten years ago, when I became a councillor, [the
park] had tenement buildings on it. It had a pub
known as the ‘Blood Tub’ (it was called the New
After a morning of unseasonal squalls, the sun
has broken through at Ilchester Park. Children are
gathering in a giant tipi in which African drummers
are ramping up the party mood. Others are preparing
costumes for a street parade. An avenue of young
silver birch trees has been yarn-bombed in bright
colours. Below them there are clusters of wild
flowers planted by local children.
It might sound like a typical August Bank Holiday
community festival in many parts of Britain. But
until recently nobody would have imagined doing
planting a sense
of pride
Julian Dobson looks at how the inclusion of green infrastructure
within regeneration activity in Birkenhead andWirralWaters has
improved local environments and helped to lay the ground
for further investment
Above
Fun for all – children queue up for the climbing wall at a community event in Ilchester Park
McCoyWynne
Dock Inn), and the old tenement style courtyard
was known as the ‘Bull Ring’. It was a rough,
tough area. But people from the North End live
in the North End, stay in the North End; their
families live here.’
In recent years a series of housing upgrades by
Magenta Living, the largest social landlord in the
borough, have provided new external cladding and
energy-saving improvements. Homes deemed unfit
or unsuitable have been demolished. A private
developer, Keepmoat, is starting to build homes for
sale on the demolition sites. But housing has not
been the only change. Ilchester Park is at the heart
of The Mersey Forest’s Green Streets initiative, a
key part of the jigsaw that is the regeneration of
the former industrial heart of Birkenhead and the
neighbourhoods that served the dock areas.
Green Streets is a programme to plant thousands
of trees across neighbourhoods in Merseyside and
North Cheshire, funded through a range of agencies,
including the Forestry Commission’s Setting the Scene
for Growth programme, the INTERREG ForeStClim
project, and the Government’s Local Sustainable
Transport Fund, as well as the Department of Business,
Innovation and Skills and the Big Tree Plant. In the
Wirral, it dovetails with long-term plans to improve the
green infrastructure and enhance biodiversity around
is being introduced to attract children and families.
The Veolia Environmental Trust has contributed
£67,000 through the Landfill Communities Fund to
construct natural play areas and a network of new
paths.
‘The community have got wide open green space
for their children to play in, for them to breathe in
really, rather than them being in an overcrowded
environment,’ Ann McLachlan says. ‘Physically
there’s a big difference, but it’s raised aspiration in
the community as well about a better quality of life.
I think local people feel a garden’s been brought to
them. Where people have no gardens, they feel the
greening of their community is a welcome addition
to their life.’
Anna Barnish, Manager of North Birkenhead
Development Trust, the main community organisation
for the area, sees the greening of local streets and
the revitalisation of the park as part of a long-term
change in the fortunes of one of the most deprived
neighbourhoods in the UK:
‘In spring when the trees are in blossom it looks
lovely, and people comment on how uplifting it is
to walk down a street which is lined with trees in
full blossom. If you look at the trees, there’s
been very little damage to them, which shows
the impact that the process of education and
engagement has had.’
That engagement has been secured through
close partnerships between Mersey Forest staff and
community organisations to involve local people in
choosing which trees are planted where, building a
sense of ownership of the greening of the wider
area. North Birkenhead Development Trust is now
supporting plans to set up a friends’ group to plan
events and activities and help care for Ilchester Park.
‘There are people that genuinely enjoy living here
and using the space and want to see it develop,’
Anna Barnish says. ‘It’s a very up and coming area –
there is the new Keepmoat housing development,
and Wirral Borough Council are doing loads and
loads to encourage positive development, with new
shops in the area. The fact that there’s new private
development in housebuilding says a lot. It says that
people want to live here.’
McCoyWynne
Above
A greener scene – tree planting by The Mersey Forest at
Egerton Dock, Birkenhead](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/parklandsregen2015final-150401143036-conversion-gate01/85/Parklands-REGEN-2015-final-22-320.jpg)
Uploaded byRichard Tracey
Parklands REGEN 2015 - final
This document discusses a study on parks in the Liverpool City Region. It provides context about relevant strategies and frameworks, including the Nature Connected Local Nature Partnership, Atlantic Gateway Parklands initiative, and Green Infrastructure Strategy. It also discusses opportunities for investing in parks from the European Union, Health and Wellbeing Boards, and potential models for authorities to pool management of strategic parks across boundaries. The study aims to identify new approaches to promote, support and manage the region's network of public parks and green spaces.
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- 1. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk The Landscape forProsperity REGEN 2015, Liverpool
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- 4. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk Atlantic Gateway Investment Priorities 1.Liverpool2 2. Liverpool Waters 3. Wirral Waters: 4. Liverpool J L A 5. Ince Park 6. 3MG 7. Mersey Gateway 8. Daresbury 9. Omega 10. Warrington Waters 11. Northern Hub 12. Port Salford 13. MediaCity UK 14. Airport City 15. HS2
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- 6. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk Landscape character assessment Landscapecharacter areas Landscape character The Evidence Base
- 7. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk ‘Adapting the Landscape’,2009 The Evidence Base
- 8. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk Angel Field Garden,Liverpool Hope University (BCA Landscapes) The Context
- 9. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk The Context Everton Park– Fritz Haeg Foraging Spiral – image from Liverpool Biennial
- 10.
- 11. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk Water and the Landscape Urbanlandscape The Approach
- 12.
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- 17. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk Turn up the signal, wipeout the noise
- 18. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk The Landscape forProsperity will be delivered through a series of partner-led initiatives and projects, championed by the Atlantic Gateway Parklands. Together these will create a new dimension across the Mersey Belt – a collection of strategic ‘Planned Landscapes and Creative Environments’; our Parklands PLACEs. We envision these PLACEs developing under four categories: Strategic Environmental Initiatives Those projects with a direct link to the key Atlantic Gateway economic assets and with which the Parklands will seek a direct relationship and supporting role to assist in their delivery within the first 3–5 years of the Parklands initiative. Emergent Environmental Assets Transformational partner initiatives, which will create a landscape that is liveable and investment ready. These will drive forward the economy of the Gateway and support the wider connection of environmental assets through the creation of the Parklands concept. natural assets which are critical to the Gateway’s biodiversity and resilience and which form the backbone of the environmental quality that will act as a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent and investment. Strategic Flood Defence Investments Strategic Landscape Assets The critical natural assets that can contribute to relieving the drag on development by dealing with issues at ‘Pinch Points’ and up- stream of key developments through Green Infrastructure and natural capital investments. Parklands PLACE
- 19. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk Port Salford Greenwayvisualisation and concept plan (BDP) Port Salford Greenway Strategic Environmental Initiatives
- 20. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk Great Manchester Wetlands StrategicEnvironmental Initiatives
- 21. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk GreenPrint for Growth StrategicEnvironmental Initiatives
- 22. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk Wirral Waters GreenGrid Strategic Environment Initiatives Town & Country Planning February 2015 77 this in the North End of Birkenhead. Ilchester Park itself was never considered a park until 2014 – it has only recently been adopted as a park by the local authority. Before that, it was simply a neglected green space in the middle of a windswept housing estate that had seen better days.Ann McLachlan, the local ward councillor and Deputy Leader of Wirral Council, explains how much has changed: ‘Ten years ago, when I became a councillor, [the park] had tenement buildings on it. It had a pub known as the ‘Blood Tub’ (it was called the New After a morning of unseasonal squalls, the sun has broken through at Ilchester Park. Children are gathering in a giant tipi in which African drummers are ramping up the party mood. Others are preparing costumes for a street parade. An avenue of young silver birch trees has been yarn-bombed in bright colours. Below them there are clusters of wild flowers planted by local children. It might sound like a typical August Bank Holiday community festival in many parts of Britain. But until recently nobody would have imagined doing planting a sense of pride Julian Dobson looks at how the inclusion of green infrastructure within regeneration activity in Birkenhead andWirralWaters has improved local environments and helped to lay the ground for further investment Above Fun for all – children queue up for the climbing wall at a community event in Ilchester Park McCoyWynne Dock Inn), and the old tenement style courtyard was known as the ‘Bull Ring’. It was a rough, tough area. But people from the North End live in the North End, stay in the North End; their families live here.’ In recent years a series of housing upgrades by Magenta Living, the largest social landlord in the borough, have provided new external cladding and energy-saving improvements. Homes deemed unfit or unsuitable have been demolished. A private developer, Keepmoat, is starting to build homes for sale on the demolition sites. But housing has not been the only change. Ilchester Park is at the heart of The Mersey Forest’s Green Streets initiative, a key part of the jigsaw that is the regeneration of the former industrial heart of Birkenhead and the neighbourhoods that served the dock areas. Green Streets is a programme to plant thousands of trees across neighbourhoods in Merseyside and North Cheshire, funded through a range of agencies, including the Forestry Commission’s Setting the Scene for Growth programme, the INTERREG ForeStClim project, and the Government’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund, as well as the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and the Big Tree Plant. In the Wirral, it dovetails with long-term plans to improve the green infrastructure and enhance biodiversity around is being introduced to attract children and families. The Veolia Environmental Trust has contributed £67,000 through the Landfill Communities Fund to construct natural play areas and a network of new paths. ‘The community have got wide open green space for their children to play in, for them to breathe in really, rather than them being in an overcrowded environment,’ Ann McLachlan says. ‘Physically there’s a big difference, but it’s raised aspiration in the community as well about a better quality of life. I think local people feel a garden’s been brought to them. Where people have no gardens, they feel the greening of their community is a welcome addition to their life.’ Anna Barnish, Manager of North Birkenhead Development Trust, the main community organisation for the area, sees the greening of local streets and the revitalisation of the park as part of a long-term change in the fortunes of one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK: ‘In spring when the trees are in blossom it looks lovely, and people comment on how uplifting it is to walk down a street which is lined with trees in full blossom. If you look at the trees, there’s been very little damage to them, which shows the impact that the process of education and engagement has had.’ That engagement has been secured through close partnerships between Mersey Forest staff and community organisations to involve local people in choosing which trees are planted where, building a sense of ownership of the greening of the wider area. North Birkenhead Development Trust is now supporting plans to set up a friends’ group to plan events and activities and help care for Ilchester Park. ‘There are people that genuinely enjoy living here and using the space and want to see it develop,’ Anna Barnish says. ‘It’s a very up and coming area – there is the new Keepmoat housing development, and Wirral Borough Council are doing loads and loads to encourage positive development, with new shops in the area. The fact that there’s new private development in housebuilding says a lot. It says that people want to live here.’ McCoyWynne Above A greener scene – tree planting by The Mersey Forest at Egerton Dock, Birkenhead
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- 32. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk Liverpool City Region Parks Study Final Report ‐ 18/03/15 Peter Neal Consulting with Richard Tracey page 0 LCR PARKS STUDY Commissioned by the Rethinking Parks Task Group Established by Nature Connected the Liverpool City Region Local Nature Partnership Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council with Halton Borough Council, Liverpool City Council Sefton Council and St Helens Metropolitan Council Final Report March 2015 Peter Neal Consulting Ltd with Richard Tracey Ltd Liverpool City Region Parks Study Final Report ‐ 18/03/15 Peter Neal Consulting with Richard Tracey page 13 Its Prospectus13 includes a wide‐ranging set of objec‐ tives and key messages that align closely with manag‐ ing and investing in the region’s asset base of parks. The Rethinking Parks Task Group has specifically been established within the LNP to work across boundaries and identify alternative approaches to promote, support and manage the city regions public parks and green spaces. The Group is seeking to develop more radical ideas and models that can be submitted to the LNP Board for further consideration. This study is part of the process and may include the potential for establishing some form of a Parks Agency concept. This could provide a structure to coordinate and share activities across the city region to support parks and green spaces and in particular high profile ‘destination’ parks. 3.5 LCR Green Infrastructure Strategy The Mersey Forest has produced an extensive green infrastructure framework that includes Wirral and Warrington. With detailed mapping of the GI resource, including data on parks and private gardens, it makes reference to the ‘establishment of a Parks Task Group, to investigate a new approach to the management, maintenance and marketing of urban parks’. The action plan is structured around six ‘park compatible’ themes: Setting the scene for growth Supporting health and well being Climate change Recreation, leisure and tourism Ecological framework Rural economy 3.6 Atlantic Gateway Parklands The Landscape for Prosperity14 sets out a vision and investment framework for a wider region beyond the LCR and local authority boundaries spanning Liverpool and Manchester. By making the best of existing environmental assets and resources, including many of the regions parks and green spaces, the framework provides an environmental foundation for long‐term economic development and growth. 13 Nature Connected ‐ Liverpool City Region’s Natural Environment is a Unique Asset 14 Atlantic Gateway Parklands , The Landscape for Prosperity, June 2014 The Atlantic Gateway Parklands will use its approach to ‘Planned Landscapes and Creative Environments’ ‐ Parklands PLACEs ‐ to drive investment using its own Community Environment Fund, which is available to third sector organisations to fund innovative projects and ideas. 3.7 EU Structural and Investment Funds The European Union (EU) funding allocation for 2014‐ 20 of £190m is coordinated by the LEP. This includes investment in economic infrastructure, including green infrastructure, to support growth, economic resilience and attract investment and visitors. The Blue/Green Economy and Place & Connectivity portfolios provide direct opportunities for investing in and managing parks and green spaces. 3.8 Health and Wellbeing Boards Local councils now have direct responsibility, trans‐ ferred in part from the NHS, for improving the health of their communities. This is primarily delivered through Health and Wellbeing Boards that are established in partnership with clinical commissioning groups. Activities are structured and measured through the Public Health Outcomes Framework. Health and Wellbeing Strategies prepared for each authority across the LCR provide a number of direct and associated opportunities for using parks to improve local standards and deliver a number of agreed and pre‐defined public health outcomes. Liverpool City Region Parks Study Final Report ‐ 18/03/15 Peter Neal Consulting with Richard Tracey page 19 A flexible model allowing individual authorities to pool the management of particular parks, or park elements, could be adopted. For example one authority may only look to include heritage and HLF‐funded parks whilst another may also include green flag parks and those of further strategic importance. It will be down to each authority to decide which of their parks is considered to be a strategic priority with all or part of their maintenance potentially resourced collectively. This process could also engage third sector expert advisors in a similar way to current work being undertaken by the Liverpool Strategic Green and Open Space Review Board. 4.9 Phased Programme of Collaboration A phased or sliding scale of collaboration, cooperation and joint working across partners could be adopted allowing time for further research and the flexibility for individual partners to identify a strategy that meets their own particular needs. This could initially start as an informal network to share skills and expertise that evolves into developing a more coordinated approach to management and mainte‐ nance over the long‐term. The establishment of a formal LCR Parks Management Board could follow which could be endorsed at the city‐regional level and its work led by a core group of Park Commissioners. These would be recommended by each authority and appointed by the combined authority. Lord Street Gardens, Southport, restored with an HLF grant It is useful to note that when the Greater Manchester Combined Authority was established in 2011 it set up seven commissions to guide its development. Each was staffed by both elected members and a wider network of partners. The Environment Commission included a Green Spaces and Waterways Theme that was led by a Green Spaces and Waterways Infrastructure Board (which became the Greater Manchester Local Nature Partnership). The formal establishment of some form of a parks agency could follow that would provide a structure to increasingly support and then lead the management and maintenance of parks. Adopting a phased and flexible programme of transi‐ tion to new ways of working is expected to be easier to establish technically and politically. However, it will be important that there is a clear and agreed strategy for establishing this model and each individual activity is seen as an integral part of the process to develop a more collaborative and coordinated model for deliver‐ ing park services across the city region in the future.
- 33. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk Confidential: Not forexternal dissemination Private roundtable discussion 1 Private Advisory Roundtable Discussion: “A Right to Beauty: The Role of Beauty and Good Design in Fuelling Local Social Prosperity” AGENDA & BRIEFING NOTES Monday 23rd March, 2.15 p.m. – 4.00 p.m. Wilson Room, Portcullis House, Westminster, London SW1A 2LW *Please allow sufficient time for passing through security* Agenda 14.15 – 14.30 Participants arrive 14.30 – 14.40 Welcome and introductory remarks by Phillip Blond, Director, ResPublica 14.40 – 15.55 Discussion, chaired by Caroline Julian, Head of Policy Programmes, ResPublica 15.55 – 16.00 Conclusions and next steps This project is kindly supported by: Why, Mr. Wilde, do you think America is such a violent country?
- 34. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk The issue of sustainabilityis here to stay Armed with wealth and the best of health, in the future when all’s well
- 35. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk It is possibleto husband the environment and reduce carbon emissions without sacrificing living standards
- 36. www.atlanticgateway.co.uk www.atlanticgateway.co.uk Richard Tracey Atlantic GatewayParklands t: 07841 458 696 e: richardtracey37@gmail.com Interim Project Director