Sefton Council is consulting on the new Local Plan for our area.

We have until Friday 18^th September to respond, so now is the time to act!

The Local Plan is incredibly important for a whole range of reasons – including setting out what-can-be-built-where, but, as you might expect, for the purposes of this article, we’re approaching it from the angle of protecting Rimrose Valley.

Fortunately, we know we have a Council that is committed to Rimrose Valley’s future and investing in the park.

However, as we saw with the ill-fated Port of Liverpool Access Road proposal, decisions taken by central government (or even our City Region Combined Authority in the not-too-distant future) can overrule local planning priorities, so it’s vital that the new plan protects Rimrose – and places like it – as much as possible.

In our view, the existing Local Plan places far too much emphasis on improving road access to the Port of Liverpool and it does not fully consider the impacts on our environment, or our health and wellbeing.

This is our opportunity to change that.

Responding to Sefton Council’s Local Plan consultation is easy to do, especially if you’re online.

We’ve shared MANY consultations with you over the years – mainly to do with transport – and it’s nice to see that this is in the same format.

There are short, simple questions, with the opportunity for you to be as detailed, or as brief as you like in your response.

To get started, we recommend watching this short film which explains what this is all about:

Once you’re done, you can choose to read either the simple, or more detailed version of the Scoping Report. This really depends on how much time (and how much interest) you have!

Thankfully, both documents are really helpful and easy to understand. Here are the links:

Easy Read version

Full Scoping Report

Now it’s time to get started.

The good news is that you don’t have to respond in one hit – you have the option to “Save and come back later”. Just click the button at the foot of each page and you’ll be asked to enter your email address and sent a link you can click to pick up where you left off.

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED

THE IMPORTANT BIT

As ever, we aren’t going to tell you what to write!

Your responses should be personal to YOU and what YOU THINK.

We are sharing our responses below, in case this helps to inform your own answers, but please don’t copy and paste. Just read and interpret them as you wish. You can be as brief as you like.From this point on, here’s what you need to do…

• Enter your contact details and, if you’re replying on behalf of an organisation, say so!

General Comments

• This is great for anyone who might be pressed for time, and you should answer this question if:
  • Your comment is not directly related to any specific topic
  • The topic is not covered
  • Or you do not wish to read through the specific topics
• If you DO have a little more time, it would be great if you could respond to each of the subsequent questions, drawing attention to Rimrose Valley – and any other spaces which are dear to you – wherever there’s a connection.

Vision

We highlighted that:

• The Local Plan’s vision should balance economic growth with proper protections for our environment and people’s health and wellbeing.
• Too much weight has been given to economic growth, including port expansion and our communities have suffered the consequences
• Urban green spaces in densely populated and industrial areas should be viewed as precious, not as development opportunities.
• ‘Brownfield first’ must mean something.
• The new Local Plan should address the erosion of precious Green Belt.

Housing Need and Housing Growth

We highlighted that:

• New housing is needed, but there should be a higher bar for building on Green Belt land.
• Creating affordable housing is critical but these should be built on brownfield land, next to existing transport infrastructure and local amenities.
• Under the current Local Plan, building homes on precious Green Belt in South Sefton has increased pressure on our road network and resulted in localised flooding.
• Relating this to Rimrose Valley, it would be great to see the park designated as unsuitable for housing developments, given its high water table, and tendency to flood.
• It also provides access to nature for existing housing and acts as an active travel corridor connecting communities.

Infrastructure: Transport, Utilities, Digital, and Social Infrastructure

We highlighted that:

• The biggest transport challenge the plan should help address is coming up with sustainable, long-term solutions to tackling and reducing port-related HGV traffic.
• The existing Local Plan called for a road-based solution, but as the campaign against National Highways’ Port of Liverpool Access Road proved, this was unacceptable to the public.
• We wish to see the new Local Plan expressly rule out building a road for port access through Rimrose Valley for this reason.
• Exploring and delivering solutions which remove as much freight from our roads as possible should be the priority for this Local Plan.
• Doing this would reduce the threat to Rimrose Valley and places like it.

Economy, Employment and Skills

We highlighted that:

• We support efforts to grow the economy and improve employment.
• However, there needs to be a higher bar when this impacts essential green space, particularly in heavily urbanised and industrial settings, like Rimrose Valley.
• Being a big company doesn’t necessarily equate to being a big employer.
• Ports are becoming more automated and we believe the number of jobs will reduce, not increase over time.
• Instead of assuming that a bigger port is automatically good for employment and the local economy, the Local Plan should require businesses to back this up by committing to a specific number and type of jobs with detailed analysis of where these will come from.
• Otherwise, the wealth they generate for their company will have no impact on our area.
• In the case of the Port of Liverpool, the vast majority of residents living immediately alongside the port don’t benefit financially from its operations. Instead, they suffer the consequences both personally and on their local environment.
• To suggest that a thriving, growing port is automatically a good thing for the people of South Sefton is wrong. Port growth must be done sustainably and respect local communities.

Town Centres and Shopping

• We have no comments on this for the purpose of this response.

Regeneration

We highlighted that:

• The south of the borough is less affluent than the north.  It is more industrial, has less green space and has lower life expectancies.
• As a result, we believe it should be a priority for regeneration, as is being seen in Bootle.
• It would be great if the approach being take in Bootle can be widened out to surrounding communities in South Sefton. Investment in these will bring a sense of pride back to these places.
• We are working to regenerate Rimrose Valley in the coming years – enhancing it both for nature and communities. It would be great to see the regeneration of all of South Sefton’s parks.

Climate Change, Energy, and Low Carbon Development

We highlighted that:

• The Local Plan can support Sefton’s response to a changing climate by prioritising the protection of green belt and large, green spaces such as Rimrose Valley.
• These capture carbon and play a vital role in protecting surrounding areas from flooding.
• In heatwaves, the temperature is significantly cooler on green spaces than the surrounding built environment and people will need places to go to cool down as temperatures rise year on year. This is important as we adapt to changes in our climate.
• As a result, Rimrose Valley and spaces like it should not be considered for development.
• Building on farmland also threatens our food security, a biproduct of the climate emergency. A high bar must be applied to such plans, and it must be demonstrated that these are for the ‘greater good’ in tackling the climate emergency and improving people’s lives.

Natural Environment, Biodiversity, and Green Belt

We highlighted that:

• We are responding on behalf of Rimrose Valley Friends and obviously prioritise the protection of this urban country park.
• Each of the park’s habitats have been earmarked as having the ability to support nature’s recovery in the city region’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
• It is a prime example of how nature should be considered as critical infrastructure and we support the council’s plans to make Rimrose Valley a ‘habitat bank’, attracting funding from other developments in the borough and supporting nature.
• We would like to see this commitment documented in the Local Plan.
• We would also like the Local Plan to go further and legally protect all of Sefton’s parks and green spaces in perpetuity, mirroring Liverpool City Council’s approach.
• If the Local Plan is truly to protect and enhance biodiversity and ecological networks and safeguard valued parks and open spaces, this needs to be documented and adhered to.
• We would need to see the information relation to reviewing Green Belt boundaries and the government’s new policies on Green Belt before being able to comment on this, but the default position should be Green Belt as a last resort, particularly in the nature-deprived south of the borough.

Health, Wellbeing, and Social Inclusion

We highlighted that:

• As acknowledged, there are huge disparities in health across the borough, with the South of the borough suffering the most.
• If the new Local Plan is truly to support healthy lifestyles through planning, accessible open spaces, nature, sports facilities, and community infrastructure… Rimrose Valley offers all these things.
• It also offers respite from air and noise pollution, provides community cohesion – physically connecting communities, and our charity’s work is all about working with nature to improve the health and wellbeing of the people in surrounding communities.
• We believe that this means that the park and other spaces like it in the South of the Borough should be afforded proper protections under the Local Plan and not be under consideration for development.

Design, Placemaking, and Heritage

We highlighted that:

• Rimrose Valley Friends has recently applied to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and secured additional funding from Sefton Council to invest in the park’s natural and cultural heritage.
• Viewing our natural assets as ‘heritage’ is really important as it properly acknowledges the role of open space in our communities.
• We would like to see the new Local Plan acknowledge this, so its goal to protect and enhance heritage assets applies also to our treasured, established green spaces, in south Sefton, not just old buildings.

Minerals, Waste, and Resource Management

• We have no comments on this for the purpose of this response.

Coastal Change, Flood Risk, and Water Management

We highlighted that:

• If the Local Plan is to manage development in areas at risk of flooding and ensure areas at most risk are left undeveloped, then this must apply to Rimrose Valley.
• Its water table is high which means it is prone to flooding. However, it’s wetlands, brook and ponds also play a vital role in combatting localised flooding.
• By working with the Environment Agency and other partners, the Council has the opportunity to improve flood resilience in our area by undertaking works on Rimrose Valley’s wetlands and waterways to enable it to capture and retain more water – improving our flood defences AND improving vital habitat.
• Any major development on Rimrose Valley would increase the risk of flooding, as has been seen by housing developments on Lydiate Lane.
• The ground cannot handle being filled with concrete and steel. This should rule Rimrose Valley out of major developments such as road construction or housing.

Thanks for taking the time to respond and for doing your bit for Rimrose!