The green initiatives set to transform Sefton over the coming years

The Mersey Forest is helping to set the scene for growth in Sefton through a number of green initiatives which The Mersey Forest team have been working on throughout the last year.

GreenPrint
The Mersey Forest, Sefton Council, Liverpool City Council and Liverpool Vision have developed the 'GreenPrint for Growth' Framework for the Strategic Regeneration area of North Liverpool and South Sefton.

The Mersey Forest has secured funding from the Atlantic Gateway Community Environmental Fund to complete GreenPrint and to prepare an Environmental Investment Plan for communities of Sefton, close to the Port of Liverpool, by collating a programme of environmental projects and activities and to use the plan to attract future external funding. Cumulatively these projects will support opportunities for renewal and enhance the area. The process is being used as a potential template for promoting GrenPrint principles in other areas of North Liverpool and South Sefton.

It's hoped that around 10 big projects and over a 1000 small projects will be funded as part of GreenPrint, creating a "Great Park" for visitors and investors alike to enjoy.

Tree planting in Seaforth
Seaforth residents helped to enhance a local park by planting small trees over the late spring.

Local people turned out to help The Mersey Forest team build on the previous year's planting at the Dogtrack field, known locally as the Doggy, off Verdi Street.

Funded by the Big Tree Plant through The Mersey Forest, the planting helped to enhance the new copses on the park. The tree planting event was organised by The Mersey Forest, Seaforth Residents Action Group and Sefton Council.

For more information, visit www.seaforthgreenstreets.blogspot.com

Green Streets
The Mersey Forest partnership planted over 140 street trees on Sefton's streets during the winter of 2012-13. The new trees were planted on routes to employment and training, including Verdi Street and Church Street. The addition of trees in these areas will help to improve air quality and will make the streets look more attractive for investment.

This year The Mersey Forest will continue to plant street trees to encourage walking and cycling across Merseyside, through the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. Our baseline survey showed that over 30% of those surveyed said that these greener routes would encourage them to cycle or walk more.