WHOWHATWHY
The Save Rimrose Valley campaign was formed in September 2017, following a public call for help from the registered charity, Rimrose Valley Friends (RVF).
Established in 2016, RVF was formed to protect, promote and enhance this beautiful, wild, green space in the heart of what is otherwise a densely populated and heavily industrialised area of South Sefton and to bring the communities together with Rimrose Valley as a shared passion.
In 2017, RVF found itself in the position of having to fight for Rimrose Valley’s very future, following an announcement by National Highways of plans to build a dual carriageway along its entire length.
The Government agency chose this as their preferred route to accommodate the volume of traffic from the expanding Port of Liverpool in order to link the Port with the motorways at Switch Island.
The Campaign Team is made up of people who responded to the charity’s public call for help to offer their time, skills and commitment to help fight these plans and to Save Rimrose Valley for future generations to enjoy.
We are mums and dads. We are grandparents. We are teachers, civil servants, employed and self-employed. We are diverse. We share a common goal: to stop the road from going ahead. You can find more about some of the campaign team here.
WHAT WE DO
We engage with national organisations, including Transport Action Network (TAN), Friends of the Earth, The Wildlife Trusts, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and others to draw attention to what is happening in our part of North Liverpool.
Through doing so, we have developed a campaign which has just two main objectives, namely:
1: To change the minds of those in power at Westminster and get them to reverse the decision to build a road through Rimrose Valley by coming up with intelligently thought out alternative options which will not harm us or our last remaining green space.
2: To bring communities together in using and appreciating this precious space and to raise awareness of what a wonderful resource Rimrose Valley is for the communities which surround it, before it is too late.
As a campaign, all the work we do should, in some way, trace back to either or both of the above objectives.
We maintain social media accounts and create powerful and shareable content. We issue press releases highlighting stories and issues which directly affect our communities. We submit applications for grants and funding. We stage public events, protests and demonstrations. We meet with politicians and businesses and Government agencies. All of this is done in order to make what is happening to Rimrose Valley not just a local, but also a regional and national issue. We are calling for better options to be put forward, which respect the health and wellbeing of people within all communities and for the existing plans to be abandoned.
WHY WE DO IT
For us and for many within the communities we represent, Rimrose Valley is a tranquil escape from the urban landscape that surrounds it. It is a perfect place in which to be amongst nature, peace and quiet. It is used for recreation including football, walking, running and cycling and is a free resource people can use to keep fit. It is a haven for wildlife and is home to a huge array of flora and fauna. It is used as a safe route to and from schools and workplaces. It links communities and helps create cohesion.
Quite simply, there is nowhere else quite like it. And for many, it is the only green space they have.
Communities alongside the existing Church Road/A5036 corridor are already suffering from pollution that is dangerously high and affecting the health of these residents. Congestion along this route is a mixture of both Port traffic and other commercial and domestic vehicles.
We acknowledge that there is a problem to be solved.
But we believe that adding another road is not the right solution.
If Rimrose Valley is destroyed, it will be gone forever.