Questions for Greenbelt

The record

What was promised, and what the documents show happened

The 1998 Section 106 agreement between National Power and St Helens Council secured this land as public open space, with a 25-year Landscape Management Plan covering woodland, grassland, the lake, ponds and footpaths. Every entry below is drawn from HM Land Registry deeds, Companies House filings, or the Council's own correspondence.

28 May 1998

The S106 is signed

National Power commits to a 25-year Landscape Management Plan for the open land ringing the new housing, overseen by a Working Party of the Council, the landowner and Groundwork, with permanent free public pedestrian access.

Dec 2000

The Management Plan is adopted

A detailed 25-year schedule of mowing, woodland thinning, pond and lake works and footpath upkeep is agreed, prepared with St Helens Council and Groundwork at the table.

21 Aug 2006

Greenbelt Group Ltd is paid £479,000 + VAT

RWE npower (National Power's successor) transfers the open land to Greenbelt Group Ltd and pays it £479,000 plus VAT. The S106 provided for exactly this route: transfer of the land to a landscape-management organisation together with a commuted maintenance sum. The figure is stated in the transfer deed itself, which also imposes a covenant restricting the land to use as amenity and open space.

FY2006

No ring-fenced fund appears in the accounts

Greenbelt Group's filed accounts show no ring-fenced maintenance fund for this commitment: no deferred balance consistent with the sum appears in its filings for the years that followed, during a period in which the company recorded successive trading losses.

9 Jul 2009

The land moves — the money doesn't

Greenbelt Group transfers the land, with the management obligation attached, to Greenbelt Energy Ltd — a subsidiary that had filed dormant accounts since 2006 — as part of a 159-title portfolio transfer for nil consideration. The deed states the transfer "is not for money or anything that has a monetary value". No funding moved with the land. That subsidiary is now called Growing Estates Ltd.

2011–2012

Parts of the open land are sold at auction

Greenbelt Energy auctions a 2.5-hectare strip of the covenanted open land for £7,500. The buyer subdivides it and sells the pieces on within months — one 3.5-acre parcel goes for £2,500. The fragments remain bound by the S106 and the open-space covenant, but pass into scattered private hands.

Oct 2013

The Council steps in — and Greenbelt gives commitments

After Greenbelt Energy attempts to auction the main remainder of the land, a meeting at St Helens Town Hall produces minuted commitments recorded by the Council's Principal Solicitor: no further land sales until at least the end of the Management Plan period, and that the Council and the company "would work towards maintaining the POS land in accordance with the Management Plan".

2014

The Council's own record: maintenance had stopped

The Council's Area Landscape Manager reported that day-to-day grass cutting had ceased, footpaths and warning signage were overgrown or missing, temporary planting fencing from the original works was still in place and collapsing, and lake vegetation was choking a third of one section. From 15 August 2014 the Council inspected the site fortnightly. Its record states that no work had been identified as being carried out.

Mar 2025

The company holding the obligation reports net liabilities

Growing Estates Ltd's accounts show net liabilities of £306,990 and state that it depends on the continuing financial support of other group companies to continue trading and meet its obligations. Its maintenance provision has fallen in each year on record: £456,000 (2023), £415,000 (2024), £385,000 (2025). It has no employees.

Jan 2026

The 3.5-acre parcel changes hands again

The parcel sold out of the open land for £2,500 in 2012 is resold at auction for £60,000 — still bound by the same S106 obligations and open-space covenant.

7 Jul 2026

Residents put three questions to Greenbelt

Friends of New Bold emails Greenbelt Group with the three questions below, together with photographs of the land's condition. Since that email, Greenbelt has sent a contractor to the site, and some limited works have been carried out. The questions themselves have not been answered in writing.

The questions

Three questions, put to Greenbelt Group on 7 July 2026

Residents living beside this land are entitled to straight answers, and a company paid nearly half a million pounds to care for public open space should be able to account for it in public. We acknowledge that since our email a contractor has attended the site. Limited works are welcome — but they are not answers.

Put in writing 7 Jul 2026 · awaiting written answers

Question 1

Will you put right the state of the land, in line with the Management Plan commitments?

The 25-year plan set out specific regimes for grass cutting, woodland thinning, the lake and ponds, and footpath upkeep. In 2014 the Council's own officers documented that maintenance had stopped, and its fortnightly inspections found no work being carried out. In residents' assessment, the land today is in a worse state than it was then.

Question 2

What are your long-term plans for this land — including the possibility, raised by Greenbelt itself, of Mersey Forest involvement?

In September 2014, Greenbelt's own correspondence to the Council suggested there "seemed to be more sense in a larger asset including the Bold site, under single management" as part of the Mersey Forest initiative. Twelve years on: is that still on the table, and if not, what is?

Question 3

Do you believe you have delivered value for money for the £479,000 plus VAT you received to manage this land?

Not a rhetorical question — a straightforward one, about a specific sum recorded in the transfer deed, paid for a specific documented purpose.

The evidence

In the deeds, the filings, and the Council's own words

Everything below is drawn from HM Land Registry official copies, Companies House filings, the 1998 S106 agreement and its 2000 Management Plan, and Council correspondence — all public record, all held on file.

Exhibit A — Transfer deed, 21 Aug 2006

"The Transferee has received from the Transferor the sum of four hundred and seventy nine thousand pounds (£479,000) plus VAT."

Registered TP1 transfer deed, RWE npower plc to Greenbelt Group Ltd, HM Land Registry official copy

Exhibit B — Portfolio transfer, 9 Jul 2009

"The transfer is not for money or anything that has a monetary value."

TR5 transfer, Greenbelt Group Ltd to Greenbelt Energy Ltd (now Growing Estates Ltd), HM Land Registry official copy

Exhibit C — Council Area Landscape Manager, Jun 2014

"Since the meeting no maintenance or remedial works have been done. The site is now becoming overgrown."

Internal St Helens Council email, 24 June 2014, disclosed under environmental information rights

Exhibit D — Growing Estates Ltd accounts, year to 31 Mar 2025

"The Company is dependent on the continuing financial support of other group companies in order to continue trading and meet its obligations as they fall due."

Going-concern note, small company accounts filed at Companies House, SC216510

Consideration on 2009 transfer

Nil

Net liabilities, Mar 2025

£306,990

Maintenance provision, 2023

£456,000

Maintenance provision, 2025

£385,000

Employees at Growing Estates

Nil

Group loan cross-guarantee

£3,125,000

Telly Tubby Hill, thirteen years apart

Two photographs of the landscaped mound at the heart of the open land — known locally as Telly Tubby Hill — taken by residents from approximately the same spot. Judge for yourself against the Management Plan's maintenance commitments.

The grassed mound in 2013, closely mown, with families walking and playing on it — 2013 The hill mown and in everyday use by local families.

The same mound in 2026, covered in long unmown grass with a single cut strip forming a path — 2026 The same hill today: unmown except for a single cut strip.

The full title history, deeds, accounts and correspondence referenced on this page are held on file and available on request.

£479,000 to look after this land — and three questions still waiting for an answer.