Waterloo Residents' Association (WRA) has been notified by John Reilly Civil Engineering Ltd that the company has made an offer to Sefton Council that, if accepted, would lead to more than £500,000 of works at cost in Victoria Park, Waterloo, including a new pavilion building that could house a cafe and become a major base for community activities.

 

The offer follows publicity for the WRA's proposal in September for the local community to be put in charge of the park and bring its pavilion back into daily use. The plan identified two strips of derelict land in Somerville Road, between the park and the Liverpool-Southport railway as belonging to the council.

 

The company wants to buy the land for future housing development, half it in the “affordable” range. It would pay a combination of cash, plus works-in-kind in the park and, if there is money left over, elsewhere in Waterloo.

 

The works in Victoria Park would include new drainage throughout the park to eliminate current boggy areas, clearance of unmaintained trees that have damaged the old drainage system, complete revamping of the children's play area with modern equipment and rubberised safety surfaces, new gates and railings, and the demolition of the smaller of the park's two pavilions so that the larger one can be extended to just over double its current size.

 

This would allow the new pavilion to be designed for disabled access, new toilets and the installation of a kitchen to service a cafe in the building.

 

The WRA is proposing that the council lease the new pavilion to a not-for-profit company with charitable status, run by local people to encourage daily use of the pavilion for a wide range of activities, including mother-and-pram clubs, senior citizens’ lunches, gardening clubs, and cream tea clubs in the summer.

 

A full-time manager would operate the pavilion on a day-to-day basis. John Reilly Civil Engineering has offered to pay for the post for the first four years. It is also envisaged that the park would offer a wide range of organised youth activities to attract young people throughout the year and particularly in the school holidays.

 

The WRA is also hoping to see special Christmas and New Year celebrations in the park, with a temporary ice rink on the old bowling green in front of the pavilion, and festive market stalls to attract thousands of visitors. The park would also be equipped with a fitness trail, complete with parallel sets of the most up-to-date equipment for parents and children.

 

WRA chairman Ian Hamilton Fazey said: “While preparing our business plan for the park, it quickly became apparent that sorting out the terrible drainage problems was a key priority in doing anything constructive with the current children's play area and making the park safe for pedestrians and joggers. Similarly, there is no prospect of the current main pavilion building being brought back into any sort of public use unless considerable sums of money are spent on disabled access.

 

“We do not believe the council has the funds to do either of these things, so we started looking for possible solutions. As a result of publicity for our proposals in the Crosby Herald and on our website, we were approached by John Reilly Civil Engineering, a national company with a base in Chorley.”

 

The company has carried out a detailed survey of the park with the WRA Secretary Harry Edmondson, who has drawn up a comprehensive description of works to be done. These have been incorporated into the WRA's Business Plan for the park.

 

Mr Edmondson said: “We are convinced that the best way to restore the park and reduce the modern scourge of antisocial behaviour is to ensure that it is in daily use by responsible adults. Our plan will make this possible, as well as saving the council many hundreds of thousands of pounds it will be able to deploy elsewhere in the borough, or even put towards solving its perpetual budget difficulties.”

 

An edited summary of the Business Plan follows, together with some of the activities the WRA would like to see in the park. A full copy of the Business Plan can be downloaded from the WRA website or inspected at the Crosby Herald front office, the Copper Kettle Cafe in St John's Road, and Crosby's libraries.

 

 

Queries: Ian Hamilton Fazey, 0151-928 3441 or ihfazey@btconnect.com

 

Harry Edmondson, 0151-920 7811 or heco@btinternet.com

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