Fresh hopes for Bromborough tip park plan

Jan 19 2011 by Lorna Hughes, Bromborough and Bebington News

FRESH hopes were raised this week that a plan to create a park on a former rubbish tip in Bromborough can be rescued.

The site was to be transformed in to a recreational greenspace, with an iconic sculpture capitalising on views across the Mersey.

But the £2.3m project was thrown into doubt last October because of cuts to the North West Development Agency (NWDA)

The NWDA has now asked the Land Trust, a charity which manages open spaces across the UK, to become involved.

Representatives attended a meeting at the House of Comons last week with Wirral South MP Alison McGovern, David Ball from Wirral Council, civil servants and the Forestry Commission.

Ms McGovern said: “The NWDA’s position is they’re waiting to be told by the government. So against that backdrop it seems extremely unlikely they’ll let them spend that money.

“I feel quite confident that with a partnership between the Forestry Commission, the Land Trust, we can do this for ourselves.

“The next step is need to get a business plan together. It won’t be anything like the money before but there could be some money if the Land Trust took over the park because as a charitable trust they’re eligible to make applications to the lottery.

“We have to keep pushing it forward and it’s an absolute priority.”

The Land Trust said it had been approached by the NWDA to see if there was anything it could do to progress the scheme but a spokesman said it was too early to comment further.

The plan for the site, put together under the Newlands 2 programme and the Mersey Coastal Park Strategy was for extensive landscaping.

Local councillor Steve Niblock, who last October called for an urgent meeting over the future of the site, said: “It’s welcome that the Land Trust are throwing their hat into the ring.

“However we do need to ensure that things start moving as the development of the tip seems to have dragged with various changes along the way over the last few years.

“If people can bring things to the table and ensure that the project is completed as soon as possible then all the better for the community.

“We have to ensure that any design or development on the tip involves the community who have had to suffer with the consequences of the tip for 20 years.”

He said it was important to note that the NWDA had not yet made a decision about the funding for the park plan.