Port Sunlight River Park

Wirral, United Kingdom

City population: 319680

Duration: 2012 – ongoing

Implementation status: Ongoing

Scale: Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level

Project area: 300000 m²

Type of area: Previous derelict area, Other

Last updated: October 2021

Port Sunlight River Park has been transformed from a closed landfill site to a 28-hectare park providing a popular community space with an array of walkways, wildlife, wildflowers, woodlands and a wetlands area. Port Sunlight River Park is a 30 hectare green space, park and wetland reclaimed from a former landfill site with a 37m high hill offering unrivalled views across the Mersey, Wirral and North Wales. (Ref 9). Autism Together were later brought in to help realise the Land Trust’s vision to provide a community site that makes a positive difference for local people and visitors, promoting healthy lifestyles in the process. (Ref. 1, 2).

Port Sunlight River Park in Wirral

Anne Litherland (2018), retrieved 08/10/2018

Overview

Nature-based solution

Parks and urban forests
Large urban parks or forests
Other
Blue infrastructure
Lakes/ponds
Coastal wetland, mangroves and salt marshes

Key challenges

Coastal resilience and marine protection (SDG 14)
Coastal protection / hazard mitigation
Marine and coastal biodiversity protection
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Habitat and biodiversity restoration
Habitat and biodiversity conservation
Green space creation and/or management
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Conversion of former industrial areas
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Social interaction
Health and well-being (SDG 3)
Enabling opportunities for physical activity
Creation of opportunities for recreation
Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
Tourism support
Real estate development
Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
Preservation of natural heritage
Protection of historic and cultural landscape/infrastructure

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Coastal landscape management or protection, Transformation of previously derelict areas, Monitoring and maintenance of habitats and/or biodiversity

Project objectives

The overall aim of the project was to turn former landfill site (at Bromborough Docks) into a 28 hectare park to provide community space and major waterfront attraction which includes walkways, wildlife, wildflowers, woodlands and wetlands. The aim was to create a new tourist attraction for Wirral and reuniting Wirral residents with their coastline; the park will benefit local communities and, combined with the heritage village of Port Sunlight will boost economic development of wider Wirral area and coastline. Furthermore, Salt marsh to the North of the site is an important location for large populations of water birds and is a site of special protection. Work will also improve the public realm along the waterfront, a perimeter walk, as well as a walk to the summit including new wildlife habitats and seating. (Ref. 1, 2, 5,9,10)

Implementation activities

The grassland is being managed as wildflower meadows. Parts will be cut once a year once the flower seeds have set. (Ref. 1) No fishing policy for the lake and the river as they are important sites for birds, rare birds and other wildlife (i.e. the river Mersey is of international importance and is designated a RAMSAR site and a Site of Special Scientific Interest). (Ref. 1) The park is a work in progress: work has included planting planted trees, seeded areas with grass and wild flowers. (Ref. 1) Nearly 16,000 trees have been planted, e.g. maritime pine has been planted for future climate change reliance. Future plans include: improve a former landfill operators building, an Arts Group who are looking for ideas and funding to add art pieces to the park in the future. Also, future plans include cycle and footpath access through a new bridge to Bromborough Pool (by 2017). The management team has applied for Heritage Lottery Funding for a new Heritage Centre. (Ref. 1, 2) The site borders the former Bromborough dock with historic connections to Port Sunlight village and Lever’s factory; and the operational Mersey Wharf. (Ref 10) A lake is mentioned in one of the references as part of the site. (Ref. 1)

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity conservation:

Protect and enhance urban habitats
Preserve and strengthen existing habitats and ecosystems
Create new habitats
Protect species
Undertake specific measures to protect species
Undertake specific measures to protect native species
Undertake specific measures to protect valued species

Biodiversity restoration:

Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
Restore valued species

Main beneficiaries

Local government/Municipality
Citizens or community groups
Marginalized groups: People with functional diversities, Other
Other

Governance

Management set-up

Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

Local government/municipality
Non-government organisation/civil society
Citizens or community group

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
Taskforce groups
Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The park is managed by Autism Together (formerly Wirral Autistic Society) on behalf of the open space management charity the Land Trust. The project was led by The Land Trust, supported by Wirral Council, and included partners such as landscape architecture by Gillepies. (Ref. 2, 3, 5,10) Other development partners included were Biffa Waste, BIS (formally NWDA), The Forestry Commission and Port Sunlight Village Trust. (Ref. 4) Biffa and Unilever have donated land and funds. (Ref. 4, 2)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Unknown

... a national policy or strategy? Yes (Funding was made available by the Forestry commission and Wirral Council through the Newlands programme: “launched in the summer of 2003 by the Forestry Commission and the regional development agency, Newlands was an exciting regeneration programme to reclaim large areas of derelict, underused and neglected (DUN) land across the North West of England and transform it into thriving, durable, community woodlands”. (Ref. 1, 4, 6) )

... a local policy or strategy? Yes (The site is the flagship project of the Mersey Coastal Park Strategy, part of Wirral Council’s regeneration vision for East Wirral designed to re-connect communities with the River Mersey and harness the economic potential of the waterfront (i.e. Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council's local development framework for Wirral; Core strategy, 2009). (Ref. 5) )

Financing

Total cost

€2,000,000 - €4,000,000

Source(s) of funding

Public national budget
Private Foundation/Trust

Type of funding

Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Donations

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution

Provision of land
Provision of labour

Who provided the non-financial contribution?

Public authorities (e.g. land, utility services)
Citizens (e.g. volunteering)

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

Climate change
Strengthened capacity to address climate hazards/natural disasters
Green space and habitat
Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
Increased number of protection areas
Increased green space area
Increase in protected green space areas
Restoration of derelict areas

Economic impacts

Unknown
More sustainable tourism

Socio-cultural impacts

Social justice and cohesion
Improved access to urban green space
Health and wellbeing
Improved physical health
Improved mental health
Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
Cultural heritage and sense of place
Improvement in people’s connection to nature
Protection of historic and cultural landscape / infrastructure
Increased sense of place identity, memory and belonging

Type of reported impacts

Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Unknown

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No evidence in public records

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

Yes

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

References

Ref. 1. The Land Trust (n.d.) Port Sunlight River Park. North West, Visit our spaces. Information obtained: 2017-07-26. Source: Source link [Accessed on 27 August 2020]
Ref. 2. Mersey Esturary Conservation Group (2019) Port Sunlight River Park. Location. Information obtained: 2017-07-26. Source: Source link [Updated in March 2019. Accessed on 27 August 2020]
Ref. 3. Gillespies (2017) Port Sunlight River Park, Wirral, UK. Projects. Information obtained: 2017-07-26. Source: Source link [Updated in 2017. Accessed on 27 August 2020]
Ref. 4. Our Ground (2012) Funding confirmed for new Port Sunlight River Park. Information obtained: 2017-07-26. Source: Source link [Accessed on 27 August 2020]
Ref. 5. Cheshire Life (2013) The Port Sunlight River Park set to transform the Wirral waterfront. Information obtained: 2017-07-26. Source: Source link [Accessed on 27 August 2020]
Ref. 6. Newlands (n.d.) Newlands project. New life, new environments, new partnerships. Information obtained: 2017-07-26. Source: Source link [Accessed on 27 August 2020]
Ref. 7. The Land Trust (2015) Annual Review 2014-2015. Green spaces, great places. Source: Source link [Accessed on 27 August 2020]
Ref. 8. Li, X., Bardos, P. and Cundy, A. (2017) 'Sustainability of Brownfield Regeneration for Soft Reuse: A Case Study of Port Sunlight River Park (PSRP). Summary Report. University of Brighton. Source: Source link [Accessed on 27 August 2020]
Ref. 9. Visit Wirral (2020). Port Sunlight River Park. Source: Source link [Accessed on 27 August 2020]
Wirral Parks Forum (2020) Port Sunlight River Park. Source: Source link [Accessed on 27 August 2020]
Wirral (2020) Port Sunlight River Park. Source: Source link [Accessed 27 August 2020]

Ref 1