Residents at South Ferry Island came together again on Tuesday 9th July 2024 for a follow-up meeting to see how Canal and River Trust (CRT) had responded to the issues raised at the previous September meeting last year. Though CRT had responded to and completed all the tasks that we had noted in our regular reports (scroll down to find out more) residents still had concerns that were raised but not noted by CRT or Engage on the night.

There was a large turnout, though slightly smaller numbers than last year, and the main issue that was repeatedly raised was car parking. CRT had given the task of enforcement of the road network to a private company and were surprised to discover that they were not doing a good-enough job from residents perspective.

Detailed notes were taken on the night by both the Chair of Engage and CRT (Andy Goudie, Harbour Manager) and will be actioned in the weeks ahead. Andy Goudie related the works done to date:

• Red plastic barriers removed and replaced with permanent barriers by CRT volunteers.
• Unsightly skip now moved and behind a permanent screen.
• Estate roads white lines repainted on 8^th November 2023.
• Winter gritting (roads only) now in place again.
• Gulleys cleansed and swept December 2023 (now in annual programme).
• Parking enforcement signs installed December 2023.
• Mariners Wharf speed humps completed 4^th May 2024
  • New humps re-built to Merseytravel and LCC standards.
  • No 4-bus returned to estate the on 5^th May 2024

Jon Horsfall (CRT Regional Manager NW) summarised road adoption process/current situation:

• Independent Stage 1 Road Safety audit completed by consultants RGP.
• RGP reviewed this audit and draft design with LCC Highways Officer (April 2024)
• Updated adoption report issued to LCC.
• LCC have sent an ‘in principle’ acceptance email for the designs.
• CRT working on plan and costings with RGP for detailed survey of roads, street lighting, drainage.
• Adoption process will take up to 3-4 years to complete.

Residents: New/Ongoing Issues

• South Ferry Turning Circle-closed by CRT to prevent anti-social behaviour.
  • Is there a permanent plan for this area?
  • Could the concrete barriers be replaced with new barrier or planters?
  • CRT explained that some of this area is required for crane access to lock.
• Parking Enforcement
  • General Lack of enforcement, coaches and buses parking on Mariners Wharf and Kings Parade, Ice Cream vans parking on pavements, illegally parked vehicles preventing access for emergency vehicles (recent apartment fire at Quebec Quay revealed serious concerns).
  • Parking outside Boat Yard is an issue again.
• Faded Yellow lines, potholes and outdated no entry signage.
• Beer Bikes still trading on the estate roads.

Residents: General discussion

• Question on what difference road adoption would make.
  • LCC better enforcement of parking and speeding vehicles.
• Question on the cost to residents for the road adoption.
  • No direct cost to residents, CRT trying to understand current situation with leaseholder Ground Rent payments to apartment management companies which might belong to CRT.
• Question to Liverpool Marina about situation with pontoons in Brunswick Dock
  • Missing pontoons will be reinstalled once repaired.
• Question about Campervans in outer car park and abandoned vehicles in car park.
  • Liverpool Marina agreed to look into this. Concerns can be raised directly with Chloe Baker (Managing Director Liverpool Marina) at chloe@liverpoolmarina.com.

Present on the night was Liverpool City Council (LCC) Neighbourhood Manager for the Waterfront and City Centre, Gary O’Rourke, who the next day responded to concerns about the Ice Cream van parking and the Beer Bikes disturbing local residents. Engage has been trying to connect with the residents who raised these issues so that LCC can find out more information and take action. Concerns about the Ice Cream van should be directed to Caroline Robinson (Regulatory Compliance Officer, Licensing and Public Protection) at caroline.robinson@liverpool.gov.uk. We await further information about the Beer Bikes issue.

UPDATED ARTICLE: 14.05.24

Job completed successfully as promised! Now that the bus service that was removed when the busses were unable to get over the previous speed humps has been restored, most if not all residents concerns have been addressed.  There will be a further residents meeting to evaluate and report back in early July.

Great news for residents of South Ferry Island who requested that Canal & River Trust remove and replace the speed humps on Mariners Wharf to enable the regular bus service to resume. As everyone was told at the residents meeting back in September 2023 that it wouldn’t be a quick job as funding had to be found and contractors engaged, plus the need for required permissions from Liverpool City Council Highways Department. Everything has now been worked through and the road and bridge will close for the repairs to be undertaken.

The road works will commence next Tuesday 21st May and last for 3 days. Notifications went up today in the locality to inform all residents and road users of what to expect from next week. Engage is delighted to be able to share this news with all residents in the area and we promised we would support everyone until the work was completed. Well that seems to be close. We also promised another public meeting with Canal & River Trust to explain what has been done and to hear again from residents. That will now be held in early July once the changes have had time to bed-in.  The new speed bumps being installed are the bus-friendly ones that residents asked for.

SOUTH FERRY ISLAND RESIDENTS MEETING 25.09.23

Engage hosted a Public Meeting for residents of South Ferry Island whose apartments are situated on land owned by Canal and River Trust on Monday 25th September at 6.00pm in the Marina and Yacht Club. Below is the full report of the event. Scroll down to find our regular updates on actions.

We invited everyone we thought were stakeholders in the area and would contribute positively to the discussion. The Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell readily agreed to take part and attended on the night. Newly elected Cllr Rebecca Turner was also invited and agree to attend but on the night apologised for being unavailable. The Interim NorthWest Director of Canal and River Trust John Horsfall also agreed to attend and was present. Liverpool City Council Highways Department were also invited and though unable to attend sent a statement that was read out on the night on their behalf.

About 70 residents attended and it was a respectful gathering where residents were listened to and then their concerns were responded to by those on the panel. The meeting was chaired by Engage, who were very grateful to the venue for allowing us to meet there. They were very welcoming and accommodating.

Below is the agreed account of residents concerns as noted on the night by the Chair of Engage and Andy Goudie Canal and River Trust Harbour Manager:

• Installation of speed humps either side of Queens/Coburg Bridge (Mariners Wharf)
• Impact of above on Merseytravel bus services to the area.
• Beer Bike-trading on the estate roads are causing a noise nuisance.
• Speeding vehicles on all estate roads
• Road Markings on all estate roads in poor condition, as are some of the speed ‘cushions’
• Parking Meters recently removed (on South Ferry Quay), larger vehicles including camper-vans, lorries and coaches now parking in this area.
• Illegal Quad/Scrambler bikes on the estate roads and Riverside Walkway
• Speeding electric bikes and scooters are also a problem on the estate.
• Anti-social behaviour. Now that the South Ferry Quay turning circle has been closed some of this activity is now displaced to the CRT car park on South Ferry Quay (next to Lock House).
• Some Females do not feel safe in the public spaces on the estate.
• Coburg Wharf Car Park – now there is parking enforcement on this car park when originally it was free to park.
• Sefton Street (not CRT property) graffiti, litter and generally looks unsightly (due to end of wildflower season)
• Comment about FOA request in relation to speed humps and Queens Coburg Bridge maintenance
  • Concern that should work be carried out on this bridge would access be blocked?
  • This would affect residents and commercial businesses.
• Question about MARO development (on land east of Brunswick Lock) (not owned by CRT).
• History of poor communication from CRT in relation to issues raised.
• Liverpool Marina Car Park – street lighting is switched off at night.
• Question about the road adoption process.
• South Ferry Quay – unsightly concrete bollards used to close off turning circle, what is their future?
  • Red plastic bollards frequently knocked over by cyclists.
  • Unsightly skip permanently on CRT car park and visible from nearby residences.
• Comment about South Ferry Quay gutters being cleared recently – why are they not done more often?
• CRT Funding – covenanted sum of money payable to CRT annually from each property, some of these amounts have not been collected – how is this money spent? Who collects it? (Must be used for South Ferry Quay improvements)

Some Notes from the Discussions that followed:

• Emily Spurrell, Police and Crime Commissioner
  • Electronic signage for speeding may be an option. (many young offenders might not take any notice). Funds are available.
  • There is a Road Safety Partnership, possible resident involvement in a community watch-type programme
  • Youth diversion activities have taken place.
  • Street Safe App-users able to ‘drop pins’ on a map in the app to highlight problem areas, Merseyside Police regularly review this. RECOMMENDATION Street Safe App for further information and download.
  • Explained reporting methods for antisocial behaviour, 999, 111, website, Tw, Fb.
  • Speed Camera installation not possible as roads are privately owned.
  • No Police powers as roads are privately owned.
  • General comments back to Emily about large gaps between speed humps (Coburg Wharf), faded road markings on Mariners Wharf and drivers thinking the area is one-way, poor road surface conditions in some places.

• Jon Horsfall, CRT Northwest Interim Director
  • Speed Humps there appears to be a national Highways Specification and a local LCC specification, CRT appeared to have installed the humps based on the national highway’s specification.
    • Comment from audience about lack of consultation with bus company.
    • Jon was asked if CRT had budgeted for adoption costs/are funds available?
    • At present CRT do not know what the cost will be, so cannot budget.
    • Can covenanted monies from apartment developments be used to cover adoption and other costs?
    • Comment from resident that No4 bus has been seen on the estate but not down South Ferry Quay.
  • Jon introduced Chris Blamey from RGP. CRT have engaged RGP to look at the road adoption process.

• Chris Blamey, RGP, South Ferry Island estate roads are very unusual as they are a private road with a recognised bus route. RGP have started a conversation with LCC about road adoption, CRT been looking at adoption since 2021. RGP have carried out an initial site inspection and will report on how to bring roads to a standard that LCC would be happy with, any remedial works would be in line with Section 38 of the Highways Act. There is a meeting with LCC Highways tomorrow Tuesday September 26^th.    
  • Comment from a resident about a previous Merseytravel and CRT bus test journey.

• Gerry Proctor, Chair of Engage Liverpool
  • Read statement from LCC Highways to meeting attendees. (Attached below)
  • Aspiration of CRT to get all estate roads adopted. LCC are open to the process being completed satisfactorily.
  • CRT may need to retain ownership of Queens/Coburg Bridge.
  • Gerry thanked CRT for their honest and sincere approach and suggested it was a good start for residents to expect CRT to communicate better with them in the future.

Action updates:

• Red plastic barriers at the turning circle: removed and new barriers to be installed to slow cyclists. Taking place week starting 23rd Oct. Done (10.23)
• Unsightly skip on CRT car park: now removed and placed inside the Lock House compound out of sight. (10.23)
• White Lines on road network: quotation received for works by CRT and was completed on 8th November including repainting the SLOW road markings as well as the white lines. (11.23)
• Winter gritting is now in place on all estate roads. (01.24)
• Gulleys all swept and cleaned (12.23)
• Parking Enforcement Signs enhanced on South Ferry Quay. (12.23)
• No4 bus absence is down to the Speed Humps being the wrong size. A meeting was held between CRT and officers of Merseytravel on Monday 6th November and steps were taken to put in place a newly designed and appropriate ramp or ‘pillow’. Designs are being drawn up and then they will be costed by CRT, who meanwhile are starting the search for funding streams that can be applied to so the project can be financed and executed promptly. January ’24 update: designs now accepted by Liverpool City Council and Stagecoach. Funding is being sought for works and final costs are awaited.
• Liverpool Marina Car Park lighting switched off: Marina emailed with residents concerns but no response as yet.
• Road Network Adoption discussions the following statement has been released by Canal and River Trust: The Trust’s Highway Consultants RPG had a further site meeting with Highways Engineers from Liverpool City Council on Tues 26 September.  Discussions were constructive and included more details of what works would be required and the likely cost estimates. 
• PCC responded with actions: there has been contact with the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office and the names of contacts have now been shared. The name of the police person in road safety is Adam Bostock:  Adambostock@merseyside.police.uk, and also Amie Parsonage: amie.parsonage@merseysidepcc.info who leads on road safety for the PCC. Residents are invited to make direct contact with their concerns.

Further actions are required and a meeting was requested by residents in about 5-6 months time which was agreed by CRT and Engage.

Please click on the link to read the statement provided by Liverpool City Council Highways Department to the meeting: LCC South Ferry Island RM Statement

---

Below is the flyer announcing the meeting that was delivered to every apartment in the neighbourhood affected by being on the road network which is unadopted and owned by Canal and River Trust: