Residents protest over plans to sell-off parks

Approximately 200 people took to the streets of Knowsley to protest at the proposed sell-off of parkland by Knowsley Council.

The ‘Family March’ took place on a wet Sunday 22 April, leaving Brown’s Field in Prescot at 9.30am and arriving an estimated 40 minutes later at Knowsley Council’s offices in Huyton.
Simultaneous marches were also held from Alt Park and Court Hey Park in Huyton, which are also under threat.

Council leaders voted to sell off the land – along with other, mostly smaller green spaces across the Knowsley borough in November 2017, saying the revenue was the only way to raise £40 million secure the future of the borough’s remaining public parks.

The alternative was the decline of all Knowsley’s parks due to government budget cuts, KMBC leader Cllr Andy Moorhead argued.

Campaigners say the community was not properly consulted however, and they argue that, Brown’s Field is the only public green space of its size in Prescot, it is well-used and cannot be replaced.

As well as providing playing fields and a children’s playground, it is the venue for the Prescot Carnival, which attracts an estimated 5,000 visitors each June. As a King George V Field, the land is covenanted for public use as a memorial to the late monarch, who died in 1936.

Knowsley Council has agreed a plan to sell 17 parks in the Borough. It wants to raise £40m for a fund that will be invested to pay to maintain the rest of the parks.

After the march Mandy Roberts, one of the organisers, said: “We had a great turn out on a very wet day.

“Part of the aim was to bring people together from the different parks and areas so they could see they weren’t fighting this on their own and I think we can happily say that this was achieved, it culminated in everybody signing petitions and letters of complaint regarding the sale of the parks”.