KNOWSLEY Council has agreed to sell off 10 per cent of its parks and green spaces to raise money for a charitable trust to maintain the borough's remaining parks permanently.

The Star reported in October when Knowsley's local authority announced a charitable trust is to take over the running of the parks in the face of budget cuts.

On Tuesday night (November 28) the council unanimously agreed to the move, which was the recommendation of an independent review into the parks' future management

Ten per cent of the borough's parks and green spaces will be surrendered for new development over the next 15 years.

The council says the income received will create a £40m endowment which will be held in and managed by a newly-created charitable Trust, with interest generated from this to be used by the Trust to fund future maintenance.

The authority says this will safeguard the future of the borough’s parks forever.

Among the 17 green spaces to be surrendered are King George V Playing Fields, Prescot and part of Syders Grove in Prescot.

Cllr Andy Moorhead leader of Knowsley Council said: “This council has had £86m ripped from our budget by central Government since 2010 which means we simply cannot afford to maintain and manage our parks in the way we have done previously.

"This new community based Trust model safeguards the future of our parks and green spaces for generations to come.

"If we don’t act now we will see a return to the 70s and 80s with the gradual deterioration of these wonderful community assets.

“This council will not tolerate such a prospect and we therefore accept the findings of the Parks and Green Spaces Review Board and its recommendation to create a charitable trust to run our parks from April 2019.

He added: “During the consultation, the message we heard loud and clear was that our residents and communities wanted certainty and were keen to know, quickly, which parks and green spaces would be considered for sale as part of new model.

"That’s why we have prioritised this work and using the criteria set out by the Board, feedback from the market research and public consultation, along with our own local understanding, have been able to identify the list of parkland areas for sale.”

Cllr Moorhead added: “We understand that parks are much loved community resources and we hope that residents will recognise the only other option would be to allow these wonderful spaces to simply deteriorate as the government cuts continue.

"We call on all our residents to embrace this new Trust and work to ensure the remaining 144 parks and green spaces – 90 per cent of what we have now – continue to be special places for ourselves and future generations to enjoy forever.”