School children from Sefton present letters and materials to Stewart Jones, Regional Delivery Director from National Highways
Photo credit: Nadine Oliver
On Friday 26th August, campaigners travelled from Liverpool to deliver letters, pictures and materials prepared by school children from Sefton to the door of National Highways’ North West headquarters in Manchester city centre.
It was the latest action in efforts to highlight their opposition to National Highways’ controversial A5036 Port of Liverpool Access Road proposal [1] which would sever Rimrose Valley Country Park and surrounding communities in two.
Campaigners as young as six represented schools from South Sefton, handing over the documents to Stewart Jones, National Highways’ Regional Delivery Director for the North West. They requested that plans to destroy their park be cancelled.
Speaking after the event on behalf of Save Rimrose Valley, Stuart Bennett said:
“The amount of effort children put into preparing these materials and then giving up a day of their summer holidays to deliver them shows just how much they care about Rimrose Valley and green space in general. The letters highlighted pollution from HGVs, the climate emergency, the destruction of wildlife and talked about just how important the park is to them and their families.
“Whilst it was to their credit that National Highways agreed to come out and accept the materials, we sincerely hope that Stewart Jones and the entire Port of Liverpool Access team take the time to read and digest the materials. These convey the hopes and fears of our children – the generation that would have to live with the impact of yet another polluting road – far better than we ever could. If they do, they might just begin to understand how insane their plans are.
“They are trying to put a road where one doesn’t belong. We need better solutions which respect our local environment, our communities, our health and wellbeing and the planet. Roads do none of these things. Continued delays [2] to this project are an indication of just how toxic it has become, but we must keep up the fight until this scheme is cancelled.”
Estelle Worthington, North West campaign organiser for Friends of the Earth added:
“Building new roads through parks like Rimrose Valley that offer access to nature in the middle of urban areas, leads to more traffic, more planet-heating emissions and more pollution. With communities in Sefton already suffering from high levels of air pollution, we must protect our vital green spaces.
“As this demonstration shows, there is huge opposition to these plans locally. The Metro Mayor [6], council and local MPs have all backed campaigners’ calls for sustainable solutions to port access to be prioritised.”
ENDS
[1] Link to summary of Port of Liverpool Access Scheme and their latest update here
[2] An additional 12 month delay has been announced for new traffic surveys to take account of changes since Brexit, the new Freeport in the Liverpool City Region, changes in travel since Covid and other factors such as lower GDP and the high cost of fuel.
[3] Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor, Steve Rotheram, recently backed calls for a better solution to be found. Read press release here
