Why Wirral is years behind Salford — and how to fix it

Dear readers — a warm welcome to your Monday briefing. It’s Abi here; I’ll be running things solo while Laurence is enjoying those early days of parenthood: sleepless nights, baby vomit, and all the other worldly pleasures that come with being a dad…

Catch up and coming up: 

• Over the weekend, we bid farewell to Laurence with his last piece for The Post before heading off on paternity leave. In it, he dug into why Everton has had such a run of bad luck, failing to secure a major trophy in 30 years. “Nice article Laurence,” one of you wrote in the comments. “I see you have used your paternity leave well and put a blue top on your new addition already!”. Get involved in that discussion here. 
• We have a brilliant feature from David Lloyd in the pipeline, all about Liverpool’s obsession with primping and pruning in the run-up to Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. Have any thoughts to share? Email editor@livpost.co.uk. 
• We also have a collaborative investigation between our Abi and Mollie Simpson — a reporter at our sister publication in Sheffield — coming up soon. We can’t wait to share that one with you.

The big story: Liverpool Airport's green ambitions

As Liverpool John Lennon Airport charts its course towards annually welcoming seven million passengers by the decade's end, there's an uncomfortable truth many of our readers were keen to point out following our piece about it last week: more flights mean more disruption, and more emissions. But, as CEO John Irving insists, growth and sustainability aren't mutually exclusive.

"We have a responsibility to look beyond the boundaries of the airfield to ensure the impact of the airport is a positive one," Irving tells us. "Over the past three years our actions have become more strategic, more targeted and more concerted."

The airport's environmental push centres on a £3 million solar farm installation: 22 acres of photovoltaic panels capable of generating up to three megawatts of electricity (or the equivalent of 1,300 homes’ worth of power a year). Once fully operational, Irving says this will supply a quarter of the airport's current electricity demand, marking what Irving calls "a significant step towards our goal of the decarbonisation of the airport operation by 2024."

It's an ambitious target, though one focused on ground operations rather than the thornier issue of aircraft emissions themselves - a challenge that requires solutions from manufacturers and airlines beyond the airport's control, he says. Still, Irving frames the airport's environmental commitments within the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, setting what he describes as "challenging but realistic targets."

Irving's vision of responsibility extends beyond kilowatt hours and carbon footprints. The airport's tagline promises passengers a 'friendlier' experience, and Irving wants that reputation to extend into Speke and the surrounding communities that live with the airport's daily — and growing — presence. And they thought Creamfields was bad enough.

Since its 2021 launch, the Airport Community Fund has distributed over £50,000 across more than 20 local initiatives; hardly transformative money. More substantial is the airport's near-decade partnership with Alder Hey Children's Charity, which has raised over £250,000.

As the airport pushes for expansion, its relationship with its neighbours is set to be put under increasing pressure: just as the advance of Manchester did into the leafy suburbs of Styal and Handforth in Cheshire. Speke, however, isn’t exactly starting from the same affluent, ‘not in my three acre mature woodland garden you don’t’ standpoint as the disgruntled Cheshire residents were.

While winning over local communities is essential for securing planning permissions and maintaining the airport’s social licence to operate, there’s an even knottier problem it needs to address in the other direction. As passenger numbers climb and the airport eyes that runway extension for transatlantic flights, demonstrating genuine commitment to the Oglet Shore is going to prove considerably more difficult.

A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site of international importance for wetland birds, Oglet isn’t your typical airport hinterland. 

This internationally protected site — home to rare wetland birds, bats and endangered farmland species — sits directly in the path of the airport's expansion plans. In 2023, the area lost its greenbelt status, paving the way for development. The airport's master plan promises a 50-hectare coastal reserve as compensation, but campaign groups dismiss this as a narrow strip that fails to replace what would be lost.

Irving hasn't publicly addressed the Oglet controversy in detail, choosing instead to emphasise terminal upgrades and passenger experience. It's a strategic silence that speaks volumes. How can you credibly claim environmental responsibility while eyeing one of Liverpool's last rural spaces for cargo facilities and runway extensions? 

The elephant in the room, for Irving’s transatlantic ambitions, is a cute black-tailed godwit: and an incoming clash of flight paths clash with an all-too-obvious outcome.

Until the airport reconciles its growth ambitions with the ecological cost of its expansion, its sustainability credentials will remain as fragile as the habitats it threatens to concrete over.

What do you think about the airport’s green ambitions? Let us know in the comments below.

Your Post briefing

The inquiry into the deaths of Philip and Elaine Marco has found that the council did not consider Queens Drive to be a risk to life before the couple drowned in 2023. The Marcos died in their car after a deluge of heavy rain — described as “monsoon levels” — resulted in flash flooding in south Liverpool in August 2023. About 80mm of rain fell in one hour on that night, causing the couple’s vehicle to become "hydrolocked", meaning its engine seized due to floodwater getting in. Prior to this, four incidents of flooding occurred on Queens Drive between May and July that same year, with vehicles becoming stranded and people being rescued.

A new review commissioned by Wirral council has found that the borough is 30 years behind Salford in terms of regeneration. The review, led by Aughton Lane director Michael Palin, claims that while Wirral council had a vision and a lot of ambition, it needed to be balanced with the need to be realistic about what it could achieve. Instead, Palin recommended that the borough copy places where regeneration efforts have been more successful — like Salford — and establish a dedicated partnership with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. "I do think the [past] senior management and the leadership of the council should have spotted the problem earlier and should have been more transparent,” he added. If you haven’t read Abi’s deep dive into Wirral council’s failed regeneration plans, we urge you to check that out here.

And Marine AFC manager Roly Howard has died at the age of 90. Howard managed the Crosby-based team for 1975 games between 1972 and 2005, and even acted as a groundsman for the club. Marine chairman Paul Leary described him as a “hero”, because “for 33 years of his life, he gave 100% of everything to Marine and he was successful." A minute's silence was held before Saturday's game to mark his passing.

Photo of the week

This gorgeous photo of the lake in Sefton Park partially frozen over was taken last week by Reddit user u/waytogoandruinit.

We’re always keen to feature photos from our readers — if you have a snap you’d like to share please email it to editor@livpost.co.uk for a chance to be featured in our Monday editions.

Post Picks

🎄On Friday, head to the Glass Onion on Allerton Road for an evening of crafts to create your own natural Christmas wreath. Details here.

🎵 Zimbabwean born singer, musician and storyteller Anna Mudeka heads to the Philharmonic on Saturday for her new show, Mama Afrika. She’ll also be playing fan favourites too, including Mbube, Pata Pata and Soweto Blues. Tickets here.

🎭Friday is the much anticipated premiere of Stella, a new play coming to the Unity Theatre. Directed by Chris Tomlinson, Stella is an exploration of youth and self-discovery that will keep you laughing and gasping in equal measure. Tickets are available here.

Recommended read

This piece by the BBC’s Phil McCann and Jonny Humphries on how close the police are to finding Diane Sindall’s killer is essential reading. Sindall was murdered in a frenzied attack in Birkenhead back in 1986. Peter Sullivan was originally found guilty of the crime, and spent 38 years behind bars before being released in May this year after DNA evidence found a match for an unknown male on crime scene samples. Now, the police are working to find the real killer — how long will it be until Sindall’s murderer is found?