Victoria Park Covenant ‘Binned’ by Sefton’s Bootle Bosses

24th October 2017

A hundred year old covenant with the people of Southport and Birkdale is being broken left right and centre. And Sefton Council’s Bootle bureaucracy has simply been turning a blind eye.

The Victoria Park was gifted to the people of Birkdale and Southport for their enjoyment back in 1898​.

When the Southport Council was created, the responsibility for maintaining this gift transferred over​ and eventually it was handed over to Sefton. When the Southport Flower Show was privatised, back in the ​1986, a contract was set up through which the Flower Show company promised to maintain the park for public enjoyment in exchange for being permitted to close the Park to public access ​for a total of 80 days per year.
Once preciously guarded, (the former ​Birkdale Council refused a clubhouse for the Croquet Club in 1902 because they did not have the power to allow private clubs exclusive use of any part of a public recreation ground under the
terms of the ​Southport and Cheshire Lines Extension Railway Act of 1882.​) Victoria Park has now apparently been gifted to Mammon.​

Southport Flower Show Ltd owns a trading company ​’​Victoria Park Management​’ which seems to run the show.​

Research by town centre councillor Tony Dawson has unearthed the fact that the Park is being closed to the public far more often than the Flower Show Company ​contract permits – and no one ‘in charge’ in the Council seems to care in the least.

“It is totally blatant” says Councillor Dawson. “All you have to do is look on the Flower Show Company’s calendar on their web-site. And, as far as I​can tell, no one in this Council which is meant to look after the public’s interest in the covenant for Victoria Park has even been checking, let alone dreaming of enforcing the 80 day closure limit ​rule.”

Councillor Dawson has formally ​asked Council officers what they intend to do to keep the balance between the public and the Flower Show Company as what was originally agreed. He also wants a clearer public web page on the Council’s website letting people know in advance when Victoria Park will be open and when it will be closed.

“It was suggested to me that the Victoria Park website http://www.victoriaparkevents.co.uk/events.asp might be useful but I do not find it so.

It shows events when the park is NOT available, whe​reas​ I think most local people are more interested in ​precisely the opposite information ie when the Park is ​going to be​ OPEN.

I think this information could also usefully be shared with local social media sites.​”​

“This year, the Victoria Park calendar appears to show the park ​to have been ​totally closed to the public for at least 71 days in the three months of July, August and September alone.

I have also been told that the park does not always get opened to the public as soon as is advertised after various events ie the ‘private’ clean-up sometimes takes longer than it should do and this restricts availability of the park to dog walkers and others even more​.

Also, ​that what access there is can sometimes be limited to certain entrances which can be highly inconvenient.”

​”​It is not totally clear from the published Calendar, anyway, whether some of the events advertised on Victoria P​ark involve the closure of all or most of the park to ‘normal’ use of the park by residents/visitors.  What I seem to ‘glean’ from this year’s present Calendar (presumably it might still be added to) is the ‘official’ closures advertised this year add up to 123 days with ‘other events’making up a further 38 days​. ​

This is just not acceptable.”

​The Calendar shows:

March Officially ‘closed’ 0 days. ‘other events’ 3 days

April  Officially ‘closed’ 24 days. ‘other events’ 3 days

May  Officially ‘closed’ 13 days. ‘other events’ 5 days

June Officially ‘closed’ 6 days. ‘other events’ 7 days

July Officially ‘closed’ 22 days. ‘other events’ 0 days

Aug Officially ‘closed’ 31 days. ‘other events’ 0 days

Sept Officially ‘closed’ 18 days. ‘other events’ 4 days

Oct Officially ‘closed’ 5 days. ‘other events’ 6 days

Nov Officially ‘closed’ 4 days. ‘other events’ 9 days

Dec Officially ‘closed’ 0 days. ‘other events’ 1 day

Total Officially ‘closed’ 123 days. ‘other events’ 38 days

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