Update: November 2025 – What we’ve learned and what happens next

Thank you to everyone who has supported this campaign so far.

Since launching this petition, residents have met with United Utilities (UU) and local representatives to demand transparency. Unfortunately, many of our worst fears have been confirmed.

🔹 UU cannot guarantee that the proposed tank will address flooding on Queen’s Drive, and have confirmed that it will not fix flooding in The Mystery itself.

🔹 Despite this, they still plan to press ahead with a project that will cause at least two years of major disruption and lead to permanent loss of green space.

Permanent changes now planned for The Mystery include:

• A new access road from Grant Avenue cutting through the park.
• A 25m² fenced compound containing a kiosk building and 5m vent pipe.
• Grasscrete surfacing the size of two basketball courts where the tank will sit — replacing open grass used for football and recreation.
• Potential “landscaping” using spoil from the excavation, which could permanently alter the park’s landscape.

We remain deeply concerned about:

• The impact on safety for hundreds of schoolchildren using Grant Avenue daily.
• Impact on traffic of average of 14 lorries per day
• Loss of wildlife habitat, including the destruction of the wildflower meadow and threat to local bat populations.
• The mental health impact on residents facing two years of noise, dust and hoarding.
• The lack of proper consultation with residents before decisions were made.

We plan to oppose the planning permission that will be required for the fenced compound. The rest of the work does not need planning permission as UU can carry these out as a permitted development. 

If the works proceed, we demand full transparency and meaningful consultation with residents, park users and the local community to achieve the best outcomes for the park. 

What you can do

• Share this petition to help spread awareness.
• Email your local MP (Paula Barker for Wavertree) or councillor to make your views known. 
• Join our mailing list for updates and ways to get involved: https://bio.site/savemysterypark

Together, we can hold United Utilities and Liverpool Council accountable to protect The Mystery.

— Save Mystery Park Residents Group

 

 

 

 

 

United Utilities are planning to install a large stormwater tank in Wavertree Playground park, locally known as The Mystery.

This work is set to last for at least 2 years, turning a large proportion of the park into a permanent building site.

The plans also include a new permanent access road into the park and some permanent concreted areas and manholes in current green space.

The proposed work would represent massive disruption for the local community - affecting residents, local schools, access to recreational space and wildlife.

We believe that United Utilities have deliberately withheld information about the true extent and impact of the work from local residents - meaning residents have not been consulted or had a chance to input on this decision that will affect them for many years to come.

We are calling on United Utilities and Liverpool Council to put a halt to the current plans and consult with local residents to explore alternative arrangements which will safeguard the Mystery as an important recreational green space for current residents and future generations.

Important notice to our supporters: Please be aware that any donations made via the Change.org platform when you sign the petition do not go directly to our residents group, but rather go to Change.org who use the money to fund online advertising to promote the petition. 

If you would like to support our group directly, please get in touch via email to savemysterypark@gmail.com.

More details about the proposed plans, their potential impact on the community and the information we demand from United Utilities below:

Work is reportedly due to begin next Monday, 27th October, yet local residents have only recently been made aware — and even then, only partially — of the true scale and duration of the project.

This scheme, which United Utilities say is to protect properties in L18, is being imposed on the community in L15 — with the disruption falling on residents who have had no proper say.

United Utilities have also repeatedly stated that the proposed works will not address the surface flooding that occurs locally in the Mystery, and that they "may look into this in the future". 

The scale of the disruption is immense, and has been deliberately obscured from residents:

    •    Most of Grant Avenue and around half of the adjacent parkland will be fenced off for at least two years, possibly longer.

    •    The excavation will reportedly be around 100ft deep and 89ft wide (30m deep, 27m diameter), requiring drilling through approximately 80ft of bedrock – an operation likely to cause noise and vibration up to half a mile away.

    •    A new permanent access road from Grant Avenue will be built, along with permanent manholes, concrete areas and kiosks within the park.

 

Only a handful of residents were informed through limited and selectively delivered letters using vague, promotional language (“we’re doing some work to make things better”).

This approach falls far short of United Utilities’ own stated commitments to openness and community engagement.

Their “drop-in” session — relocated and shortened at the last minute — provided more detail, but to only a small number of attendees.

The community is now organising to ensure that the full facts are known and to demand proper transparency.

 

We urgently call for:

    1.    Immediate suspension of preparatory works until full and fair consultation has taken place.

    2.    Full disclosure of project details, including:

    •    The schedule, duration, and scale of all planned works.

    •    The alternatives considered and why they were rejected.

    •    The expected impact of vibration, drilling and noise.

    •    Safety measures for children and residents during works.

    •    Detailed environmental and wildlife impact assessments.

    •    Plans for waste removal (given claims that excavated rubble will be used to “landscape” the park).

    •    Full design plans showing what the park will look like afterwards.

    •    Details of long-term maintenance and noise implications from the new access road and storm tank infrastructure.

 

This project represents a massive loss of green space, significant disruption to local life, and potentially permanent damage to one of the few open areas our community relies on.

Impact on local community and nature includes:

• Turning construction vehicles on a road that is used by hundreds of school children every day
• Noise, pollution, obstruction for residents and local schools
• Disturbance of wildlife such as birds and bats in neighbouring trees
• Destruction of grass meadows by storing dirt/muck on top for several years
• Potential harm to the last mature tree on Grant avenue park side which is inside proposed construction area
• A complete reversal of the positive impact of recent rewilding/nature health initiatives in the park which include Scouse Flower House wildflower sowing, tree planting and unmowed meadows
• Grave impact to availability of recreational space in the area - this part of the park is heavily used by the community for dog walking, exercise, regular run clubs, park run, football clubs
   

Residents are not opposing necessary infrastructure improvements — we are opposing the secrecy, lack of consultation, and unfair siting of a project that will primarily benefit another area.

We urge United Utilities and Liverpool City Council to increase transparency, pause site setup, and ensure that residents of L15 have a genuine voice in the process before any irreversible work begins.