Green Party campaigners urge council to tackle “Boat Graveyard”

GREEN Party activists are urging the council to tackle “Warrington’s leading landscape eyesore” which they say has become a “Boat Graveyard”

What used to be wild green space is now a storage yard for decaying boats and is equivalent to fly-tipping. The boats may well be leaching damaging chemicals into the soil damaging into what used to be a precious ecosystem, according to members of Warrington & Halton Green Party

The land is situated at Fairfield & Howley between Kingsway Bridge and the Ambulance Station on Farrell Street and brings back memories of 2014 when the same site’s owner built an unsightly tyre wall there, which took Warrington Borough Council years to get removed, despite being a clear breach of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Lyndsay McAteer (Leader of the Warrington & Halton Green Party) said, “I pass this spot a lot as I use Farrell Street to go west from the town, and this damaging eyesore is just getting worse. Our Green Party is made up of people who are passionate about saving Warrington’s green spaces which are rapidly being built on by developers.

“The planning chiefs do not care because green spaces do not make money and they are failing to pursue lawful enforcement action against environmental criminals. No action has been taken at this site other than to let more boats to be towed onto what looks like a graveyard for boats.”

On the opposite side of the road to the Ambulance Station is a large important unique wildlife site that the Woodland Trust describe as a “large naturalistic green space called the Twiggeries” It consists of extensive wooded wetland that Padgate Brook runs along the eastern flank” It is a wonderful mysterious place and is still predominantly wild.

Green Party spokesperson Stephanie Davies added: “It looks like an inland boatyard with beached, dilapidated pleasure craft. I clearly remember the time of the tyre walls debacle and how long it took before the owner was forced to act. Surely Warrington Borough Council should be taking enforcement action now to protect the local environment and get the boats removed? We don’t want inaction to lead to any damage to the Twiggeries.”

The Green Party have taken photographs and submitted a request to the WBC enforcement officer to investigate what is going on and called for action. They have also notified the Warrington Nature Conservation Forum, who were outraged at the use of the land.

WNCF chair Geoff Settle said: “As chair of the WNCF I complained about the tyre wall in 2014 along with many other people. The landowner acquired the land and proceeded to rip the heart out of the place by dumping tyres, stripping off the topsoil and ploughing up the wildlife habitat. In addition, a pair of swans were nesting alongside Padgate Brook who were disturbed during their nesting cycle. This was not only immoral but illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. I was horrified at what I saw when I went to investigate.”

He continued: “We have limited resources, our members are all volunteers who love nature and we are grateful to anyone who notifies us about such threats so that we can take action. Unfortunately, it is often after the event when for example developers have cleared their land of trees in preparation for a planning application. We also speak against unsuitable planning applications, but our wildlife message often gets ignored.”

“We leave our individual political views outside our meetings and focus on protecting the wildlife of Warrington and recording sightings. We do however welcome the local Green Party’s input on this occasion as we have of others in the past. Please take a look at our web page wncf.co.uk”

A council spokesperson said: “We are in ongoing contact with the landowner to ensure that progress is made to address the issues on the site.”