Author: Martin Driver

An innovative environmental project in Bootle which is creating 80 new sustainable street gardens in the town has received an enthusiastic welcome from local residents.

Following introductory sessions at North Park and South Park, families quickly took up all the available spaces in the first phase of the Community Growing Circle project, which involves them in planting out and creating ‘mini farms’ in the narrow front yards in front of their homes.

The aim of the project is to highlight the benefits of the circular food economy – growing your own food, eating it and then composting the waste to help grow more produce.

The Community Growing Circle has been established by the Taking Root in Bootle community gardening network with the help of a grant from the Liverpool City Region Community Environment Fund.

This was established last year by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram to improve the environment of the city region and promote community involvement in green projects.

Each household taking part in the project receives a front yard growing starter kit which includes pots, troughs, a water butt and a kitchen caddie for collecting and transporting food waste to the new community compost bins in the local parks.

The project is also supplying soil, seeds and plants to enable residents to grow lettuces, spring onions, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, courgettes, raspberries and strawberries.,

Families have even had the opportunity to request a dwarf fruit tree and planter to enable them to grow miniature varieties of apples, pears, plums or cherries.

The distribution of the kits started at the end of April, and families are now planting and growing in earnest, with the help of ongoing advice and support from the project organisers.

“We also aim to show how growing at home and community composting can help to reduce food miles, packaging and waste, and provide families with delicious fresh produce literally on their doorstep.”

Sefton Council supports many community groups and initiatives that help to take care of Sefton’s outdoor spaces and develop community areas in parks and greenspaces, as well as more urban areas.

External flooding of homes in Rock View, Sefton should soon be a thing of the past, thanks to work that’s been completed by United Utilities. 

The water company which has had a regular presence in the area, both above and below ground since 2020, has invested over £4 million upgrading the local sewer network.

Fifteen homes in the area have a history of external flooding when the local sewers become overloaded during heavy rainfall.

Part of the project involved building a new underground storm water storage tank on land next to Dapple Heath Avenue in Melling. 

The massive tank, located out of sight underground, measures 12 metres across and 8 metres deep.  It will be able to hold 630,000 litres of water.

Mark Walker, from United Utilities, said: “This scheme is all about increasing the amount of storm water we can capture underground during heavy rainfall, to help reduce the chance of sewers overflowing.

“This is a major investment for the area and the completion of this project will come as very good news for those householders who have experienced the awful problem of flooding from sewers. 

“There’s no way of doing engineering work of this scale without causing some temporary disruption. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the local community in the area for their understanding during our time on site.  We still have some elements of work to complete and we will continue to speak with residents as we near the end of this essential project.” 

A key part of protecting communities across the Borough from flooding is through collaborative work. United Utilities has recently signed a joint statement of intent with Sefton Council and the Environment Agency to reassure Maghull communities that they are continuing to work together to explore solutions to reduce the risk of flooding.

The newly established flood risk working group discuss both short and long term works to prevent and better manage flood risk. 

To read the statement in full, visit the Sefton Council website here.