Hello and welcome to the midweek edition of The Southport Lead.
You’ll likely have heard at some point of Natural England’s role in preventing action being taken to tackle growth on Southport’s beach. The public body believes that interfering with natural processes here is inappropriate and ineffective and that nature should be allowed to take its course.
The approach in Ainsdale’s sand dunes is different however as it seeks to ensure that one of the country’s rarest species can thrive and has suitable breeding sites to do so. Today’s main story focuses on those efforts and a new project which will support that work.
Southport briefing
💮 A living legacy to Elsie Dot Stancombe has been opened in Ainsdale. Named ‘Elsie’s place at St John’s’, the garden is located adjacent to Ainsdale St John’s Church – a place that held deep significance for Elsie who attended the nursery which uses its church hall. Designed as a peaceful space, the garden will provide a private space where Elsie’s friends and family can reflect and remember her. It will also be open to the wider community on special occasions, as well as being utilised by the church, school, nursery, guiding groups and the local community, allowing others to pay their respects and share in her memory. For more than 30 years, the church garden had been a barren, unusable space, impacted by antisocial behaviour and in need of regeneration but an extraordinary community effort involving volunteers, individuals completing court-ordered unpaid work, and local businesses. The garden also includes a community vegetable patch. Fresh produce grown in the garden will be sold through the church and within the village, with all proceeds donated to Compassion Acts to support the local food bank. Reverend Jackie Vasquez, Vicar at Ainsdale St John’s Church, said: “Elsie’s place at St John’s’ is a place of love, hope and remembrance. It has been created not only to honour Elsie’s life, but also a reflection of the extraordinary kindness and generosity shown by our community. We pray that it will be a peaceful sanctuary where Elsie’s family and friends can remember her and where, on special occasions, others can come together to reflect and celebrate her life.”
🎭 Ambitious plans to transform the Garrick building into the UK’s first spa theatre hotel will now include more hotel rooms instead of apartments. The building, which most recently housed Mecca Bingo, is being converted into a unique venue which will also include a fourth floor terrace and pool, commercial units and a bar and restaurant. The scheme would also involve the refurbishment of the existing event auditorium and rooftop extensions including three additional floors and fears had grown over the future of the project as development appeared to have stalled. However, owners Garrick Southport Ltd have now requested permission to modify the plans to increase the number of hotel rooms from 109 to 133, with the extra rooms replacing apartments which were originally to be included.
☕ A home in Tarleton village will be partially turned into a coffee shop after highways officials withdrew their objections over parking issues. The venture, to be known as Nestled Coffee, will revolve around a menu of drinks and (literally) homemade cakes, will operate from a house on Church Road with no more than 20 seats available across the interior and exterior. Planning permission for the change of use has now been approved and the business will trade between 7am and 5pm on weekdays and 9am and 1pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Planning documents submitted on behalf of the applicant, Katherine Moen, stressed that the venue was designed to encourage visits on foot, as well as “linked” trips from people already coming into the village for other reasons. As a result, it was claimed the outlet would generate “a limited number of additional vehicle movements” each day, which could be accommodated by existing unrestricted parking spaces “within very close walking distance of the site”. Amongst the letters of support received by West Lancashire Borough Council in relation to the venture, it was suggested that it would be “a positive community asset, providing a social meeting space and enhancing village life”.
💷 Sefton Council is set to write off debts totalling more than £2.5m from unpaid council tax and business rates. The authority’s Audit and Governance Committee will soon be asked to agree the move which relates to debts stretching back more than a decade and will not affect the current budget. According to a report prepared for the committee, the vast majority of that debt is from unpaid business rates and all has been subject to extensive recovery efforts. It adds that Sefton’s collection rates for the council tax and business rates “consistently compare favourably to all metropolitan local authorities nationally and neighbouring Liverpool City Region authorities”.
£35k plan to excavate Ainsdale sand dunes and improve habitats for natterjack toads
By Jamie Lopez
Excavators will be used to manage Ainsdale Sand Dunes as part of a £35k plan from Natural England to improve habitats for the natterjack toad.
In contrast to the public body’s approach to Southport beach, it is the lookout for a company or social enterprise which can alter the natural landscape. This will involve enhancing existing dune slacks to create new breeding opportunities for the rare species.
Natterjack toads are very rare and found in just a handful of coastal locations across the country, making Ainsdale of particular importance for the species. They breed in warm, shallow pools on sand dunes and sandy heaths and typically grow to be a maximum of 8cm long.
Natural England is currently tendering for what it describes as a species recovery project at Ainsdale sand dunes and is targeting small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) or voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE) to award a total of £35k available.
Documents seen by The Southport Lead state: “This project aims to enhance existing dune slacks, providing new breeding opportunities for Natterjack toad. This essential habitat creation and enhancement is considered key to achieving favourable condition for the species and the project will help restore this site to conditions that support natterjack toads and encourage thriving populations within the Sefton Coast area.”
It goes on to explain that the winning bidder will need to use an excavator in multiple locations to remove surface vegetation such as scrub, roots, topsoil and creeping willow to create shallow sandy pools.
In total, around 8,000sqm of land across up to eight locations are included in the project. Once the contract is awarded, work is expected to last five months starting from October 2027.
The tender states: “This project aims to enhance existing dune slacks at Ainsdale Sand Dunes National Nature Reserve (Ainsdale NNR), providing new breeding opportunities for Natterjack toad.
“This essential habitat creation and enhancement is considered key to achieving favourable condition for the species and the project will help restore this site to conditions that support natterjack toads and encourage thriving populations within the Sefton Coast area.
“Whilst this is a locally focussed project, it will benefit the national population by building future resilience through improved habitat quality and connectivity to adjacent sites, contributing significantly to overall national population numbers.
