At last night’s Wirral Council Environment, Climate Emergency and Transport Committee meeting that took place at Wallasey Town Hall, Birkenhead News submitted the petition to twin Birkenhead Park and New York’s Central Park to Wirral Council.
The 527 signature petition was presented ahead of the meeting via email.
As part of the submission process, a short presentation was made to the committee. The spoken presentation was based on the following text:
“There is already a working relationship in place between the two parks in sharing ideas and experiences. This came about through the strong connections that the parks have had throughout their histories.
“For those who may not know, Frederick Law Olmsted’s design of Central Park in New York was heavily influenced by a visit to Birkenhead Park in 1850.
“Following his visit, Frederick Law Olmsted wrote, “five minutes of admiration, and a few more spent studying the manner in which art had been employed to obtain from nature so much beauty, and I was ready to admit that in democratic America there was nothing to be thought of as comparable with this People’s Garden “
“The idea of officially twinning the parks is to create a link between each park’s users in addition to the working link.
“The twinning can promote economic development and tourism in the wider Wirral area by raising the profile of Birkenhead Park on the national and international stage.
“This can lead to an increase in revenue for local businesses and create new job opportunities for residents.
“But don’t take the 500+ signatories of the petition word for it. The Right Honourable Tony Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead, an alumnus of Birkenhead School, is also [quote] ”keen to bring renewed respect to the global significance of Birkenhead as a template for modern town planning by strengthening international links, particularly with New York’s Central Park which was modelled on Birkenhead Park.”
Cllr Liz Grey, Chair of the committee responded by saying, “Wirral Council does fully support this request. The aspiration to twin Birkenhead Park with Central Park, I think we all endorse that very much. Staff from Birkenhead Park already have a good working relationship with staff in Central Park, sharing research and good practice. Wirral Council will progress with discussions with Central Park to seek to twin with them, if they’re willing to do so.”
Image: www.birkenhead2020.com
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