Campaigners against new road in Sefton stage protest

A group campaigning against a major road being built in Sefton say they've been left with no choice but to cause disruption on one of the the main routes into Liverpool.

It's after Highways England announced plans four years ago to build an access road from Switch Island to the Port of Liverpool, through Rimrose Valley Country Park.

The action, which is their first since the Covid-19 pandemic, will begin with a rally on Rimrose Valley itself. Guest speakers include local MPs Bill Esterson and Peter Dowd, and high-profile environmental campaigners from CPRE The Countryside Charity, Transport Action Network and Friends of the Earth.

Protestors will then march to and from the Port of Liverpool’s entrance to highlight the major stake it has in the road project.

Stuart Bennett of the Save Rimrose Valley campaign said:

“It is 4 years since the Port of Liverpool access road was announced by Highways England. Since then, national, regional and local government have each declared climate emergencies.

"With roads and transport being the UK’s biggest contributor to CO2 emissions, Highways England’s plans look more out of touch with reality every passing day. We need to stop making things worse and take urgent action to reduce emissions. Yet this and other environmentally destructive road projects are still being pursued

“This road proposal has already faced one legal challenge and political and public opposition continues to grow. The pandemic has shown everyone just how vital our green spaces are for our health, wellbeing and wildlife and how these need to be nurtured and cherished, not bulldozed into oblivion.

“We are calling on everyone who cares about protecting our green space, clean air and our planet to come and join us in saying that enough is enough. We hope that other communities will join us in solidarity to see off this shameful attack on Liverpool by Highways England and the government’s Department for Transport. We want to show that we are united in opposing this damaging new road and that the people of Liverpool deserve better. There is still time to pull back from this ill-conceived scheme and to come up with a sustainable solution to meet the Port of Liverpool’s transport needs".