Liverpool City Council will become the first local authority in the UK to protect all of their parks and green spaces forever. This commitment will see 100 green spaces, covering over 1,000 hectares, secured in perpetuity.
How will this benefit residents of Liverpool?
Fields in Trust and Liverpool City Council are working together to protect parks and green spaces for good; ensuring the positive benefits they provide will always be available for the city's residents.
"We know the value of our parks and their contribution to so many of the key issues we are determined to tackle in Liverpool and that is why we are working with Fields in Trust to protect their future. I urge other civic leaders to follow our example and protect green spaces for good."
Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson
During the first phase, 20 green spaces in Liverpool will be protected. These include local community spaces in areas identified as having the greatest need for protected green space provision, as well as landmark parks across the city. Once the Council's vision has been achieved, Liverpool will be the first city in the UK to protect all of their green spaces for good and where every resident lives within a ten-minute walk of a protected park.
"Only looking back at it now have I realised quite how much it's underpinned a lot of the things that we've done and a lot of my memories. Sefton Park has been a huge part of my life and our life as a family."
Memories are made in our parks. Help us protect them.
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Why is action to protect green spaces for good needed?
Parks and green spaces are not a statutory service, meaning local councils have no obligation to provide them for their residents. Without protection parks can so easily be lost and once lost, they are gone forever.
What is lost isn't just the green space though, it is the positive physical health, mental wellbeing, community and environmental benefits that are also lost.
Green spaces are good and they do good. It's something we all instinctively know. It's also something backed up by our own original Revaluing Parks and Green Spaces research. Action now to protect parks and green spaces for good will secure the benefits these spaces provide for current and future generations.
Liverpool's green space provision per person of 25.3sqm is lower than the average across Great Britain of 32.9sqm.
One in six people in Liverpool have no access to a private or shared garden, higher than the national average of one in eight.
The city's population is set to grow 10.3% over the next two decades, making action to protect green space now vital.
Once Liverpool City Council's vision has been achieved over 1,000 hectares of green space will be protected for good.
We have an established track record of using location and demographic insights to contribute to better informed policy decisions and help protect parks and green spaces for good where they will have the greatest impact on the communities. Find out how we use data for good.
"Seeing everybody's enjoyment and people having the same memories that I have. And making memories that I have... without the park, I wouldn't have the friends I have or the memories I've got."
Memories are made in our parks. Help us protect them.
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Which parks near me in Liverpool will be protected?
To achieve Liverpool City Council's vision, green spaces in the city will be protected in a series of phases. The first phase will include ten local community parks in areas identified by Fields in Trust's analysis as having acute strategic need for protected green space, as well as the city's ten major parks.
Impact of phase one
Once phase one is complete, 64.1% of Liverpudlians will live within a ten-minute walk of a green space for good, including 85.1% of residents in areas identified as having the highest strategic need.
Spaces being protected in phase one
The first phase of green space protections will include local community parks such as Falkner Square Gardens, Norris Green Park and St John's Gardens, as well as all ten of the city's major parks including Calderstones Park, Sefton Park and Stanley Park. Explore the full phase one protection portfolio using the resource below or clicking here.
What will protection mean for parks in Liverpool?
Fields in Trust have been protecting parks ever since our founding as a charity in 1925. In that time we've secured nearly 3,000 green spaces for good across the UK, including King George V Playing Field in Childwall which has been protected since 1988.
Protection is a legal agreement between Fields in Trust and a space's landowner that they will retain it for use as a green space in perpetuity. Ownership and management of the space remains locally with the existing landowner, ensuring the local community remain fully involved with the space. Our protection is robust yet flexibile to ensure the needs of the community can be met as they evolve in the future.
Fields in Trust champions and supports the parks and green spaces we love by protecting them for you to enjoy, forever. Because once lost, a green space is lost forever.
We are an independent charity with nearly 100 years’ experience protecting parks and green spaces. We already protect nearly 3,000 such spaces across the UK, benefitting over 14 million people. With your help, we can secure the futures of many more and ensure the greatest impact for communities who need them the most.