This is what it asks…

Tell us what you think about Festival Gardens.
Love Festival Gardens? Please complete this short survey and tell us what you think.
There are nine questions and it should take about 5 minutes to complete. Your answers will help the Festival Gardens team to make the Gardens better for everyone.

Your answers are completely anonymous unless you want to share your contact details. Thank you!
The Festival Gardens Team

1. How strong is the sense of community in this neighbourhood?

Extremely strong
Very strong
Moderately strong
Slightly strong
Not at all strong
Other (please specify)

2. Would you like to feel more involved with your local community?

Yes
No
Can you tell us a bit more?

3. Would you welcome an opportunity to get more involved with Festival Gardens to help make positive changes in your local area? For example, by volunteering your time or skills, holding events, learning new skills…

Yes, I am already involved with Festival Gardens
Yes, I would be interested in finding out more
Maybe at some point in the future
Definitely not

Please explain why – don’t be shy!

4. Are there things that put you off getting involved with improving, developing and managing Festival Gardens?

I don’t know how
I’m not sure what it would involve
I’m not sure I have the right skills or experience
I want to lead rather than be given tasks to do
I just want to help out a couple of times each year
I can’t commit a lot of time
I can’t commit regular hours
It’s not really my idea of fun
Anything else – please say, don’t be shy

5. How often do you visit Festival Gardens, and why do you visit?

6. What would you like to see at Festival Gardens?

More educational opportunities
More health & wellbeing opportunities
A better ranger presence
Better access
More community events
More opportunities for people to interact
Improved biodiversity

Anything else – please say

7. One way of getting more people involved with Festival Gardens is through a social enterprise.
A social enterprise is an organisation that works to improve human and environmental well-being, rather than creating profits for external shareholders.

Do you like the idea of a social enterprise being responsible for the day-to-day management of Festival Gardens?

8. Would you be interested in finding out more about how to help set up a social enterprise –
either in relation to Festival Gardens or for another purpose?

Yes – for Festival Gardens
Yes – for another purpose
No
Please explain

9. Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. You can add any more comments here.
Please provide your contact details if you would like us to keep in touch.

(That was just a copy of the questions. Fill in the real survey here).

£1 for 2 hours
£5 all day.

Download Minutes of Jan 13 meeting (PDF)
Download Newsletter No 28: Jan 13 (PDF)

Some of the matters discussed:

• Tree Survey
• Festival Gardens cafe fire
• Postcode problems for Festival Gardens
• Meet the Neighbours
• Tree Problems
• Propsed school move to Jericho Lane
• Litter
• RRA history

Download Minutes of Sep AGM (PDF)

Some of the matters discussed are as follows.

• Volunteer Rangers lack of uniforms
• Festival Gardens funding problems
• Festival Gardens parking fees
• Federation of Liverpool Waterfront Residents Associations disbanded
• St Michael’s Community First group set up
• Feral cats in Camelia Close
• Meeting with Shorefields about land use
• Problem trees between Floral Wood and Cottonwood

They cost £5 for half an hour or £10 for an hour.

They are advertised as being “a great outdoor activity promoting exercise and health and wellbeing among families”

Download the poster here

There seems to be some confusion as to what exactly they are called. Even the poster uses “Quadricycle” but also “Quadrabike”

Wikipedia explains http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadracycle

That’s the aim of a campaign led by Ray Hannaway, of Speke, who thinks the superbly revived Festival Gardens would be an ideal extra call for Mersey Ferries. A meeting is planned for July 4, at 5.30pm, in Otterspool Inn, for all those interested in the idea.

Nigel Sharp, Liverpool City Council parks development officer, thinks the idea should be explored. He said: “Reviving Festival Gardens is about attracting visitors, so anything promoting tourism to our green spaces is good.”

“There is also potential for round trips for walkers and cyclists, returning by Otterspool Promenade or St Michael’s Station.”

Full article on Liverpool Echo website

The gardens will be open for short times until full opening hours are operational by Saturday 23 June.
The times are

1 – 4pm Fri 25 May 2012 and
1 – 4pm Tue 29 May 2012.
9.30am-12noon Fri 1st June 2012
10am – 4pm Sat 9 June 2012
9am – 2pm Wed 13 June 2012
8.30am – 7pm Tue 19 June 2012
8.30am – 7pm Wed 20 June 2012
8.30am – 7pm Thu 21 June 2012
8.30am – 7pm Fri 22 June 2012

BBC Merseyside is doing programmes from the site on Friday 22nd June.

A community event will take place on 23rd June which will mark the official permanent opening of the park.

The Trust has appointed three rangers to oversee the management of the space and engage the community on a daily basis and they will be drawing up a schedule of activities for everyone to get involved in.

Festival Gardeners
The ranger team would be delighted to hear from you if you would like to get involved with the Festival Gardens either through volunteering as a Festival Gardener, hosting events or activities in the gardens, visiting as a school or community group or becoming a corporate partner. Come and meet the friendly rangers at 1300 on Sunday 10 June at the main gates on Riverside Drive to view the gardens and ask any questions.
Picnic in the Park
Saturday 23 June 2012, 12 – 4pm
Come and enjoy the Festival Gardens with a picnic in the park, a treasure hunt, Tai Chi, face painting and live entertainment.Picnic blankets for everyone – just add food and friends!

Questions and Answers

Alan Carter of the Land Trust has provided a few answers to questions asked at a meeting with local residents.

Q. Opening times:
A. General operational hours will be 8.30am – 7pm, albeit this will change with the seasons.

Q. Will the gardens be available to book for private events? Would this involve closure to the public?
A. Potentially, although no plans at the moment.

Q. Will there be closures for maintenance?
A. This will depend on what maintenance or repair is required. General maintenance no, but we will be lead by H&S on this.

Q. Are you encouraging wildlife?
A. There is already quite a lot of wildlife on site, and this is something we are actively encouraging.

Q. Is the car park suitable for coaches? I foresee schools having visits, half day trips etc. Would their coach driver be able to able to unload children in the car park and stay there if necessary? Ditto visiting groups.
A. Yes

Q. Can we use the Gardens for our “Meet the Neighbours” event?
A. Potentially – lets discuss

Car Park:

Q. Car Park may become used by commuters as a car park for St Michaels Station – 5 mins walk away. This would not benefit genuine GFS visitors who may be unable to park.
A. We don’t think this will be a problem, but we will continue to monitor

Q. May be used by coaches visiting the city – Sefton Street and Riverside Drive near the Britannia Inn frequently have coaches parked up. (There do not appear to be any designated coach parking spaces on the site.)
A. We don’t think this will be a problem, but we will continue to monitor

Q. The gates would need to be opened/closed at the agreed Park opening times (dawn and dusk) which may cause difficulties particularly in winter if the car park is used by commuters/coaches who may return to their vehicles well after dusk. Warning signs would need to be posted. –
A. We will do this

Q. Visitors will almost certainly not expect to pay to park – there is no charge at other of the City’s Green Spaces – and as a result vehicles will be parked in the roads adjacent to the site as happened on one of the ‘open days’ when the car park was not open. This would not be acceptable to the local residents.
A. We do not plan at this stage to charge for car parking, although we will be asking for donations.

Q. Car parking will require some level of staffing to ensure fees are collected either manually or by machine. However, since there will be definite opening and closing times for the gates then the same staff could be used as parking attendants.
A. See above

Q. Clearly the Land Trust will have some idea of projected usage of the car park, the running costs and how much the car park might be expected to contribute to the overall GFS running costs.
A. See above

Q. Security. I have not noticed any camera coverage.
A. There is none at this stage for the site, although certain parts may have limited coverage

Q. Car park lighting – none. Either on the car park itself or on the paths from the site side entrance. This might prove a problem if the GFS decides to have any evening events – such as another Firework Display – which might finish after dark.
A. There is some lighting within the park, but none on the car park, however we do not envisage the car park being open when it is dark, unless for specific events, when additional lighting could be considered

Q. The car park could do with a large ‘EXIT’ sign at the parking end of the access road.
A. Noted

Q. Car park has no litter bins.
A. There are several bins around the site

Q. There is an ever present threat of ‘travellers’ in this area. Do Langtree/Land Trust have a contingency plan in place? For example is the status of the car park clear as to ownership so that should an event occur the legal wheels can be set in motion without delay.
A. We will continue to monitor this.

Site General:

Q. In general the site is not user friendly – no toilets; and no refreshments being the major problems.
A. Toilets and refreshments will be in place for when we open

Q. No smoking! It’s in the open air for Heavens’ sake! Is there a H&S issue with the methane still coming off the site? Is measuring for methane taking place on site and if so are there ‘danger levels’ set? At least could there be a ‘designated area’, with seating, for those who need to indulge.
A. This has now been reviewed. There is methane still generated form the site, but this is continually extracted and monitored and within safe levels.

Q. Is there a policy on alcohol? There is nothing nicer than a summer picnic on the grass with a chilled white wine. On the other hand there is nothing more unpleasant than an unruly group overindulging on super strength lager or cider. What can any GFS staff do in terms of control/ejection? Have Merseyside Police been consulted?
A. We have consulted with the police, and are working with them on getting the right balance in this area

Q. Dogs – will the site end up as so much of the city as little more than a dogs’ toilet?
A. Hopefully not, with your help, and also with responsible dog owners.

Q. My major thoughts are, considering the bad old days of trail bikes and so on, is SECURITY! What will it amount to?
A. We will have a number of people on site during opening hours, and also some security out of hours – we will continually monitor and review this.

Q. Is there a number that we can call if we spot anything?
A. Yes please call our ranger on 07795 800970

Q. Would they like to recruit volunteer wardens, guides, gardeners, “Friends of” (like at Calderstones) and so on?
A. Yes please – let me know if you need more info sheets and application forms

LIVERPOOL Festival Gardens held an invitation-only event today to mark the completion of work on the much-delayed site.

Local residents were given a sneak preview of the revamped 90-acre Otterspool site ahead of its full public opening, due in the next few weeks.

A £4.5m restoration project has been carried out at the former venue of the 1984 International Garden Festival, after many years of neglect and decay.

But progress has been painfully slow because of a series of crises, including the collapse of both the main contractor, Mayfield Construction, and the firm tasked with managing the site, Groundwork Merseyside.

This set back the original opening date by more than a year.

Owners Langtree are now holding a series of “ramp-up” events to mark the completion of work and prepare the site for full public use.

The first and largest of these was an open day for residents living near to the Riverside Drive site, culminating in a firework display.

Liverpool council leader Joe Anderson joined Langtree Development Director Stephen Barnes to welcome guests to today’s event.

Mr Barnes said: “It’s been a long road, with plenty of potholes along the way, but we are pleased and proud to say that we have now completed work on Festival Gardens.

“We felt it was important to mark the occasion properly and thank our neighbours for their consistent support and patience throughout the project. Each and every guest seemed genuinely impressed with what we’ve achieved, which is crucial as this park will be their legacy.

“This event was also essential to help us stress-test our work and ensure the park is robust enough for the people of the city to use for years to come.

“We have appointed the Land Trust to manage the site for us and there will be various other small events in the coming weeks to soft test the facilities before we fully open the park.

“We should see Festival Gardens open to the public in a matter of weeks.”

Originally conceived as the centrepiece of Liverpool’s early regeneration efforts, the site was home to the International Garden Festival for five months in 1984, but a series of failed ownership changes saw it fall into significant disrepair during the following 27 years.

The second phase of the project will see Langtree creating up to 1,374 new homes on 25 acres in the park on the area of the former Festival Hall dome.

Tickets were provided to local residents.

This wasn’t an opening event rather a celebration of the completion of the work. There were fireworks at the end of the day.

There is still no date set for opening to the general public.

Just got back. I took a lot of photos. Here are a few of them. I’ll put some more up later on.

It’s amazing. Really impressive. I was going to photograph the bad as well as the good but I honestly didn’t see anything bad to photograph.

What makes it special is the time of the year. So much colour and variety. Lots of well established trees as well. And it’s not just pretty flowers, there are overgrown sections as well with stinging nettles etc. Not in a bad way though. It is just great. Like being out in the country.

Very happy.

Also went to see the fireworks. Wow. Wish I’d taken my camera but couldn’t face the hassle. It’s too hard photographing fireworks.

The worst speeds are down the end of Promenade gardens where they are estimating 37.1Mbits/sec download. The best are as you would expect at Gardenia Grove with a blistering 80Mbits/sec estimate.
***UPDATE 10 Jan 2013***

BT is upgrading their network by laying fibre optic cables over the current copper lines. They aim to make superfast fibre broadband available to two-thirds of the homes in Britain by 2014.

But how are they progressing around Riverside Drive.

A quick survey on 1 Apr 2012 shows that the following are ready and active
Have a look here to find out more about the roll out in general

Ellerman Road L3 4FF
Alder Way L3 4FX
Beech Avenue L17 7EN
Priory Close L17 7EG
Moel Famau View L17 7ET
Bempton Road L17 5DB
Penhale Close L17 5BT
Rosewarne Close L17 5BX
Kerris Close L17 5BY
Savoylands Close L17 5BR
Calvados Close L17 5DE
Burgundy Close L17 5DD
Claret Close L17 5DF
Hythedale Close L17 5BS
Barchester Drive L17 5BZ
Westbury Close L17 5BD

with the rest on the waiting list. The current expected date for these is was 30 June 2012 but has now been slipped another 3 months to 30 Sep 2012 and guess what, checking again at the start of October they are now saying 31 December 2012.
Very dissapointing. Come on BT get it sorted.

Promenade Gardens L17 7EU
The Bulrushes L17 7EX
Orchid Grove L17 7EY
Floral Wood L17 7HR
Cottonwood L17 7ES
Thistledown Close L17 7ER
Thorntree Close L17 7EP
Westward View L17 7EE
Eastwood L17 7ED
Jasmine Mews L17 7EW
Gardenia Grove L17 7HP
Camelia Court L17 7HW

How does it work

There is a good explanation of the technolgy on the Openreach site

It’s not feasable to replace the whole of the existing copper network with Fibre optic cables so the most likely way you will get your superfast broadband will be via Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC). A part-fibre, part-copper solution, capable of delivering download speeds of up to 40Mbit/s and upload speeds of up to 15Mbit/s right away with 80/20 Mbit/s available from Spring 2012.

With FTTC, they overlay fibre on the copper infrastructure running from an exchange to cabinets in the street. Copper will still be the final link (i.e. from the cabinet to your home or business).

Which provider

You don’t have to go with BT though. As usual there are plenty of companies looking for your custom and its not easy to say which is the best. It really depends on your specific circumstances and what you are looking for. As well as broadband you can also get other services like phone and tv through your connection.

Just search for “compare fibre broadband” or something similar to see the many options available.

Virgin Media don’t offer fibre optic cable in the Riverside Drive area

From April 12th, 2012 Sky are introducing Sky Broadband Unlimited Fibre to people who live in a fibre network area. I haven’t checked if Riverside Drive is such an area. If anyone has further information I’d be interested to hear from you.