Back to index of Nerve 16 - Summer 2010

Gates across the Altcross Footpath

By Redskye

This isn’t just about a footpath, this is about much more. The wider Liverpool 11 community has already lost more than most of us can bear to remember in the past two decades: playing fields, the local further education college and adult education centre, a number of schools, and the Sayers bakery in Norris Green, closed and demolished, the last big employer in Liverpool 11. Our community has withstood a stream of social injustices - is it any wonder we’ve experienced such serious crime and disorder here recently? Many of us - including my family and one of my next-door neighbours - have seen our former homes and neighbourhoods demolished. We’ve had the Norris Green `Boot’ housing estate demolished and neighbourhood broken up, we’ve recently had two estates demolished in Croxteth. Then Croxteth Community Comprehensive School was given notice that it would close in August 2010.

It really is TIME for us to stand up and say, “enough is enough” in Liverpool 11. We can’t continue to live under constant threat of losing services, resources, homes, schools and facilities by order of the council.

There was a lot of bullying, threats and intimidation involved in getting this footpath gated and locked off, some of which I encountered personally and more was reported to me during the elections in May.

First of all it was hard getting a meeting place, and the Lib-Dem councillor pushing for closure reported me for fly posting with the threat of a £1000 fine dropping through my letter box, all because a few posters advertising the meeting were stuck in bus shelters. Police officers informed me after the meeting that an anonymous telephone call had threatened violence at the meeting.

Local people appreciated a fight back campaign in Croxteth, we were visible on the main bus route through Liverpool 11. We had a stall at the site, but this was exhausting, two hours standing in freezing winter cold, wind and driving rain for over 25 mornings in total. We were regularly brought cups of tea and lent warm, high visibility coats. We produced badges and gave them to local children, gave away a regularly updated newsletter and over 50 audio CDs of the Radio Merseyside phone-in debate.

Having shown our full commitment to the ‘Keep It Open!’ campaign we hoped locals would have been there alongside us on the day to physically block the installation of the gates (see picture above), but people never seemed confident enough to commit to that ultimate level of action.

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