A campaign to improve a "forgotten" Liverpool community is gathering pace after the ECHO highlighted the area's plight in a special report this weekend. On Sunday, we reported on the efforts of Speke nan Dawn Millea and others in the south Liverpool suburb to fight for changes and new facilities for an area of the city that they believe has been cut off, left behind and ignored for decades.
We joined Dawn on a drive around the large Speke housing estate, as she showed us the lack of senior schools and the dearth of any decent parks for the area's four thousand children.
Community galvanised by report
Since our special report went live, Dawn tells us there have been instant results and says the article has had a galvanizing effect on the community, with more and more people wanting to get involved in the campaign for a new community park that she is spearheading.
After the report was published, Dawn was contacted by South Liverpool Homes, the major housing provider in Speke, offering her a direct meeting with a senior official to discuss her plans for a new park on the site of the former Stapleton Avenue school.
She says that such is the growing interest from the wider community in fighting for a better Speke, there is now a plan to form an official community group.
New group to unite residents
The new group will be formed under the name of Speke Together for a Brighter Future. The plan is for the newly structured team to ensure all future negotiations with the local housing association and the council.
Dawn said: "This will enable us to truly listen to our neighbours and address these systemic infrastructure issues collectively and address the powers that be as a united front. Thank you to the ECHO for giving us the spark to get organised."
She added: "People are rallying and getting behind this now. People are saying they are ready to fight for this."
Community meeting planned
Dawn and her fellow campaigners are now encouraging people to come and get involved with the campaign at a group meeting later this month.
The community meeting will take place outside Speke Library on August 25 between 4pm and 6pm.
A notice for the meeting states: "Turn up, speak up, make a difference. Let's build it together."
