Southport-Sefton divide reignited in rows over beach and aviary
Council leader accused of not listening to Southport sparks anger with 'inhumane' aviary comments
Hello and welcome to The Southport Lead.
Back in May, when the local elections saw Labour’s majority on Sefton Council dramatically reduced and the Liberal Democrats win 17 out of 21 Southport seats, I wondered whether a new era of better working relations could begin for the parties.
The early signs were not good when Labour declined to give the Lib Dems any roles chairing scrutiny committees and the tension between the two has been clear to see ever since. Accusations, and denials, of a lack of openness regarding issues such as the MLEC expenditure have again become commonplace.
Matters came to a head at a full council meeting on Thursday in discussions over Southport beach and what has become a very hot topic of the Botanic Gardens Aviary. Read our main story below to see exactly what happened, along with one separate point of agreement on an important but lesser discussed issue.
And if you haven’t quite had your fill of council arguments, I’d direct you to today’s edition of The Lancashire Lead for a report of a meeting which made this one look an entirely wholesome encounter and which contained the most the extraordinary outburst I’ve seen in a decade of covering of local politics.
Southport briefing
💐 Tributes have been paid to a Ken Porter, a well known volunteer who gave decades of service to improving Ainsdale. After retiring in 1992 from the Ford Motor Company, where he held various managerial positions, Ken dedicated years of his life to helping the village alongside wife and fellow community champion Brenda. Ken one of the founding members of the Ainsdale Civic Society and served as its first honorary secretary as well as giving long service as secretary of Ainsdale in Bloom. In 2023, he and Brenda were given the Chairman’s Award at North West in Bloom for their hard work. After the news of his death was announced by his wife, Ainsdale Civic Society said: “His dedication, commitment, and vision helped establish the strong foundations on which the Society continues to build today. We remain deeply grateful for the lasting contribution he made to both our organisation and the wider community. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Brenda and all of Ken’s family. They have lost a kind, honest, and devoted man whose love for his community touched so many. He will be remembered with great respect and affection.”
🍔 The prospect of Wendy’s opening a drive-thru restaurant in Southport has moved closer after planning permission was approved. The US fast food chain, which specialises in burgers, is earmarked to replace the car wash facility at Kew Retail Park, opposite the Old Duke pub and near to McDonald’s. The application was submitted last year and did not state the new facility would be operated by Wendy’s but an eagle-eyed member of the public spotted the reference in a technical report submitted with it. It is stated that the new venture will create between 30-40 jobs. The application stated: “The proposed drive-thru will deliver a valuable and convenient facility for nearby commercial uses and the surrounding working population. Locating the development within Kew Retail Park, an established retail destination, avoids the sporadic siting of traffic-generating development, promotes linked trips and helps to minimise the generation of additional vehicle journeys.”
🏠 Sefton Council’s cabinet is expected to vote to allow the beginning of work to develop housing on the former Ainsdale Hope High School site. The school has been closed since 2007 and is one of three sites across Sefton which are being considered as part of the Sefton 2030 initiative which involves a collaboration between the council and its partner The Sovini Group to build 1,000 new affordable homes across the borough by 2030. At the meeting, cabinet members will be asked to approve proposals which will allow Sovini Group to begin early feasibility work on the three proposed development sites. If approved, Sovini will be permitted to carry out surveys and investigate initial design ideas to look at how the sites can best meet local needs. Cllr Phil Hart, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for housing, said: “Everyone deserves a safe, good-quality home. It’s key to a safe, happy and fulfilling life. Sefton 2030 is about making that a reality in our borough. By working in collaboration with The Sovini Group, we can bring forward currently unused sites that have been earmarked for disposal and turn them into the right mix of over 200 new homes for local people. This is an important step; we are still at an early stage, and nothing will happen at these sites without further approval of detailed plans by the council.”
Southport-Sefton divide reignited in rows over beach and aviary
Sefton Council was accused of not listening to Southport as it faced more pressure over its decision to close the aviary at Botanic Gardens and its management of the beach.
Cabinet members faced multiple questions about the lack of consultation on the closure plan but insisted it was entirely appropriate as it was an “operational decision” made as part of the budget.
As reported by The Southport Lead last week, the council expects to save £60k by closing the facility, which acts as a rescue centre and houses exotic birds including parrots, but has cited animal welfare issues as the main factor.
At a fractious full council meeting at Southport Town Hall on Thursday, council leader Cllr Marion Atkinson described aviaries as “unnatural” and “inhumane” environments, sparking anger from those in the public gallery.
The decision was described as “crazy” by community volunteers last week as the furious reaction to the news continued at a public meeting attended by around 200 people.
David Cobham, who runs the Botanic Gardens Community Association of volunteers with his wife Ann, told the LDRS: “This park, and especially the aviary, people go back years and years when they brought their children here, when they came here themselves as children with their grandmas.
“It’s really awful.” He described the decision as “crazy”.
Sefton has said the aviary is not keeping up with modern animal welfare standards expected for birds in its care and the costs associated with maintaining its infrastructure are too great, adding that it is one of the last councils in the country to manage a facility that houses animals but has no statutory duty to do so and must focus its limited funding elsewhere.
The council also said the nature of the challenges the aviary faces in terms of infrastructural improvements and meeting welfare needs would make it difficult for any voluntary organisation to take over running the attraction.
An online petition set up by the Botanic Gardens Community Association has been signed by nearly 3,000 people, while activists collecting signatures in the Botanic Gardens ahead of a public meeting last Friday say their paper petition had also secured around 5,000 signatures.
Meols ward Liberal Democrat councillor Daniel Lewis submitted a motion to Sefton Council ahead of its meeting on Thursday, noting the Botanic Gardens Community Association is bidding for Heritage Lottery match-funding for up to £5m. Under the scheme, every £1 the community raised for the Botanic Gardens would be matched with an additional £9 from the National Lottery.
Cllr Lewis was calling for the £176,000 raised from the sale of a lodge at the edge of the gardens to be allocated towards the bid so that the aviary could stay open.
David Rawsthorne, who founded the Make a Change for Botanic campaign group which raises funds for repairs and maintenance at the gardens, previously described the aviary as “the heartbeat of the park” and said the group wanted answers on the progress of the match funding bid.
While it was unlikely the motion would ever be agreed when government approval was needed to factor that property sale into the general budget, the response did little to ease tensions.
At the meeting, Lib Dem councillor for Birkdale Simon Shaw asked why the council didn’t carry out a public consultation on the decision to close the aviary when such an exercise could have uncovered considerations that hadn’t occurred to the council before.
Cabinet member for health and wellbeing Joanne Williams responded: “There was a great deal of thought given to the decision. It wasn’t taken lightly.
“With regards to consultation […] it had to go through the budget process as well, therefore it’s an operational decision, so we wouldn’t consult.”
This was met with mutters of “outrageous” and “rubbish” from the public gallery, where a group of volunteers from the Botanic Gardens Community Association were sitting.
Cllr Lewis then put forward his motion, saying: “The work done by the Botanic Gardens Community Association is often underestimated. People don’t know just how much those guys do to keep the jewel of the north of the town alive and going. It is a fantastic asset. I’ve been going there since I was a kid, since I was a toddler.”
He said the match-funding is an “incredible opportunity. If we can get that, that’s so much money into Southport.”
He said he is “disappointed” the proceeds from the sale of the lodge did not go to support the Botanic Gardens, adding: “However much it was sold for, that could have been leveraged 10 times. That would be a massive amount of money. [Botanic Gardens community groups have] already raised tens of thousands of pounds, we can’t ask them to do it alone.”
He asked if the decision was based on funding pressures or on animal welfare. “This isn’t difficult to do. If we want to save the aviary we can save the aviary. It requires a tiny amount of political will, tiny.”
Responding, council leader Marion Atkinson thanked Botanic Gardens volunteers for their work. She said funds from the sale of assets are shared across the borough.
Cllr Atkinson added: “This closure is not about money. […] This is all about the welfare of the birds,” to shouts of “load of rubbish” from the public gallery.
“The animals are currently held in captivity in cages that are far too small. On average, each bird has the equivalent space to fly of four washing machines stacked two by two. The aviary is an unnatural habitat. Aviaries are a legacy of an era that did not care about birds.
“None of these animals were put on earth for the pleasure of human beings to look at them,” she said, to a shout of “it’s a sanctuary” from the public gallery.
“We should not encourage future generations of birds to be confined to those kinds of facilities. It’s simply inhumane.
“Sometimes nostalgia gets the best of us and we forget what the right thing is.”
Lib Dem councillor Simon Shaw queried why Cllr Atkinson was saying the move was not about money when earlier Cllr Williams had said it was a budgetary decision.
His colleague Iain Brodie-Browne said: “If it was an animal welfare decision we could have had a report to us about the animal welfare decisions. If we are to rehome them, are we to fly them to Africa? It is nothing other than a smokescreen […] You sneaked it in the back door.”
Green councillor Neil Doolin said he has read research suggesting that: “If animals have been born into captivity, sudden freedom or change is not the correct approach.
“Birds – parrots in particular – are as intelligent as five-year-old humans […] that is their home and everything they know.”
Concluding, Cllr Lewis said that if it is not about money: “Give them £60,000 a year. Anyone going to do it? No, because it is about the £60,000.
“You just called the people who work for the aviary animal abusers […] it’s an animal rescue centre. They are saving birds.
“We can do the right thing here, but I’ve given up on the Labour-run Cabinet. […] The Labour council will not listen to people in Southport.”
In the end his motion was rejected by 32 votes to 27.
Southport beach
Differences between the council administration and opposition were again highlighted in a subsequent motion which called for the saviour of a section of Southport Beach. This motion, put forward by Cllr Doolin, called for action to keep part of the beach plant and mud-free for the community and visitors.
Debate over the fate of Southport Beach has continued for several years, as local people and politicians consider how to balance the need to conserve habitats with a desire to support the town’s seaside tourist attractions. While Ainsdale, Formby and Crosby are known for their golden sands, the Southport stretch is subject to accretion, the natural build-up of land along a shoreline as more and more sand and sediment is deposited.
That means that as more sediment and silt settles on the beach, the more it begins to resemble a mudflat, with vegetation growing inwards and the council has resisted several calls to take action on this front, insisting that Natural England has limitations on what can be done to affect those changes.
