Liverpool hailed as global leader in urban green infrastructure

THE International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has named Liverpool as a pioneering City in innovation for integrating green infrastructure into its urban landscape.

As 1 of 3 "front runner” Cities in the EU funded URBAN GreenUP project; alongside:- Valladolid, Spain, and Izmir, Turkey; Liverpool has demonstrated how nature based solutions can be effectively deployed to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and social well-being in highly urbanised environments.

The project, coordinated by Liverpool City Council and supported by the Mersey Forest and The University of Liverpool, focused on enhancing the City's green infrastructure through ecological engineering and strategic urban planning.

Key interventions included the installation of:- living green walls, urban raingardens, floating ecosystem islands, innovative pollinator spaces, and the revitalisation of underused public spaces.

This resulted in improved air quality, urban cooling and a lower flood risk through increased vegetation. The City also benefited from enhanced biodiversity and ecological connectivity across the City.

Liverpool was invited by the IUCN Standard for Nature based Solutions to retrospectively assess the URBAN GreenUP project against the new standard, which attributed the URBAN GreenUP project's success to strong collaboration, adaptive management practices, and a commitment to long term environmental planning.

Councillor Laura Robertson Collins, Cabinet Member for Communities, Neighbourhoods and Streetscene, emphasised the importance of co-design and community involvement:- "Our work in Liverpool shows that when Cities invest in nature, they invest in the health, resilience, and prosperity of their communities. Liverpool serves as a model for other urban centres seeking to integrate nature into their infrastructure and planning.”

Liverpool City Council takes next step in battle against littering

NEW environmental enforcement Officers taking to the streets marks the final stage in Liverpool City Council's 3 step plan to address:- illegal littering, fly tipping and dog fouling.

Consultations with residents have shown that these issues were among their main everyday concerns. In response, the Council has set out three new measures to tackle them.

Introducing Waste Investigations Support and Enforcement (WISE) to operate across Liverpool is the 3rd of those measures to be carried out.

A new team of enforcement Officers started work this week to help prevent environmental crimes and issue Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) to anyone caught offending.

Increasing FPNs was 1 of the new measures rolled out by the Council to address residents' concerns.

From June this year, litterers face a:- £150 penalty, while those caught dog fouling will be ordered to pay:- £100. A tiered penalty system has been introduced for fly tipping, which starts at:- £500 and can rise depending on severity.

The WISE Officers will support the work being done by the Council's internal Environmental Crime Enforcement team. Establishing the team, which has now been operating for over a year, was the Council's 1st act to tackle illicit waste.

Just last month, the team issued 45 FPNs for illegally disposed of waste, including a:- £1000 penalty for a significant amount of fly tipping from 1 individual. They also engaged with over:- 250 business and residents about the correct way to dispose of waste.

They will now get additional support from WISE, which already works with 31 local authorities and in such major Cities as Manchester and Birmingham.

To ensure high standards and a close working partnership, WISE and the Council will have regular meetings to review the service quality and mitigate any identified risks.

The Council has not set any FPN targets for either the internal or external teams, with the priority instead being to encourage behaviour change.

These steps form part of the Council's Recycling and Waste Strategy, which is designed to promote positive waste behaviours, increase recycling and make waste collection more energy efficient.

Councillor Laura Robertson-Collins, Cabinet Member for Communities, Neighbourhoods and Streetscene said:- "Introducing more environmental enforcement Officers means that we can commit even more time and resources to tackling environmental crimes. Our goal is to help promote positive behaviour and show people who don't respect our City that it will not go unseen. We aren't trying to catch anyone making an honest mistake:- instead, we want to take action against people who are deliberately messing up our streets. People come from far and wide to see our beautiful City. For them, and most importantly for the people who live and work here every day, we're doing everything we can to keep the City clean and tidy.”

John Dunne, Managing Director of WISE said:- "WISE delivers a wide range of environmental investigations and enforcement services across the UK and has consistently contributed to the reduction of environmental crime and the cost of cleansing associated with it. Our core objective is to support Liverpool in achieving long term improvements in local environmental quality by targeting problem areas using an:- 'intelligence-led' approach. This includes:- the use of geo fencing technology and responding directly to feedback and complaints from residents. We will employ a firm but proportionate methodology to address environmental offences, underpinned by the use of body worn cameras and mobile technology to verify offender details and issue fixed penalty notices efficiently and lawfully. Our Officers are committed to engaging positively with local communities to promote inclusive participation in protecting and enhancing the environment across the City of Liverpool.”

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