Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council

This chapter explains the policies towards the protection and enhancement of the network of urban greenspace and sporting facilities within each of the townships of Knowsley. These resources are considered to be essential to the quality of life within these areas. They help to provide a healthier society and make the Borough a more attractive place in which to live and invest and therefore assist in the goal of regeneration.

There are several public indoor leisure centres providing sporting facilities for different communities in Knowsley. Recent improvements in the quality of Council based facilities have offered new opportunities for local people through the provision of a new leisure centre at Halewood and a multi use sports facility at King George V, Huyton. There is also a range of private sporting facilities within the Borough including the Liverpool Football Club Academy based at Kirkby, and a similar facility planned for Everton FC at Halewood.

There is also an extensive network of “urban greenspace” in Knowsley, including areas with secured public usage (known as public open space) and other areas in private ownership.

Figure 10.1 - Types of Urban Greenspace

i. Parks and gardens - including urban parks, country parks and formal gardens;

ii. Natural and semi-natural urban greenspaces - including woodlands, urban forestry, scrub, grasslands (e.g. downlands, commons and meadows) wetlands, open and running water, wastelands and derelict open land and rock areas (e.g. cliffs, quarries and pits);

iii. Green corridors - including river and canal banks, cycleways, and rights of way;

iv. Outdoor sports facilities (with natural or artificial surfaces and either publicly or privately owned) - including tennis courts, bowling greens, sports pitches, golf courses, athletics tracks, school and other institutional playing fields, and other outdoor sports areas;

v. Amenity greenspace (most commonly, but not exclusively in housing areas) - including informal recreation spaces, greenspaces in and around housing, domestic gardens and village greens;

vi. Provision for children and teenagers - including play areas, skateboard parks, outdoor basketball hoops, and other more informal areas (e.g. 'hanging out' areas, teenage shelters);

vii. Allotments, community gardens, and city (urban) farms;

viii. Cemeteries and churchyards; and

ix. Accessible countryside in urban fringe areas.

Source: The Urban Green Space Taskforce

A key objective of this Plan is to promote the interests of all types of sport and recreation which are needed by the community of Knowsley. The Council has prepared a strategy covering playing pitches and has also prepared an Open Space, Recreation and Sport Needs Assessment to comply with the requirements of PPG17, “Planning for Open Space, Sport and Recreation”. An Open Space, Recreation and Sport Strategy will also be prepared by the Council which, together with the needs assessment will inform planning decisions with respect to open space and built sports facilities. Further guidance will be provided in a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).

The strategy will identify options for change after considering existing and future needs. The Supplementary Planning Document will:

• Identify the minimum quantity, quality and accessibility of each type of provision;

• Identify a minimum acceptable size for those types of provision where this is applicable;

• Provide formulae for the calculation of commuted maintenance sum payments where new development will provide open space/recreation facilities as part of the development or use existing provision in the area;

• Provide formulae for the calculation of capital cost of providing and maintaining new off-site provision where appropriate; and

• Apply the standards to identify existing deficiencies/surpluses for all types of provision in terms of quantity, quality, accessibility and size and projected future needs taking account of socio-demographic trends, participation trends and planned new provision.