Fight to save ‘life-changing’ Gellings Riding School in Knowsley

Gellings Riding School, in Knowsley Village, faces closure after a London-based property company revealed plans to sell off the land.

However, campaigners, families and local politicians came together to kick-start a survival campaign and advocate for the preservation of the riding school to guarantee its future.

The much-loved community asset provides riding classes, animal therapy and access to various family leisure activities. But now those who use the facility are in a race against time to save it from closure.

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Last Saturday members of the community were joined by Labour MP Ian Byrne, Cllr Mike Kearns and Cllr Mark Burke to support the campaign.

During the meeting, some people broke down in tears over the prospect of the school’s closure and others spoke of how important the centre is to them.

Ann McKenna’s children and grandchildren visit the school every day.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “My grandchildren are absolutely besotted with the horses, it keeps them out of trouble and I know they’re safe.”

Ann also works for The Bobby Colleran Trust – a charity created following the fatal accident on October, 24, 2014 of a young boy called Bobby Colleran. As part of their remit, the trust offers bereavement support to children and they regularly use visits to Gellings Riding School for therapeutic animal days. She added: “The impact of animal therapy on children who have been bereaved is absolutely huge and we see how it helps them open up and be able to start loving again.”

Gellings Riding School stables

Amy grew up using Gellings and came with her mum every weekend rain or shine. Amy now brings her own daughter and said: “I can’t imagine what I’d be doing with my life if this placed closed down. It’s unique here because it’s a family place”.

Another parent who places enormous value on the riding school is Kirsty who is a single mum with two young children. Kirsty told the LDRs: “This place is everything to us. We’re like a family. I don’t know what we’d do if this place closed.”

Bridget is a teacher but has also been a livery on the yard for 17 years. She was also part of the team who set up Park Palace Ponies, a riding school in Liverpool, who continue to work with Gellings. She said: “This really is an amazing resource. To have a fun, social and safe place in the community is so valuable. I’ve been coming here since I was 11 and there’s so many people like me who rely on this place.”

The land on which Gellings operates is owned by two companies based in London. The LDRS understands one of the lead campaigners for Gellings, Keith Hackett was informed the land would be sold and put on the open market in the next 10 days.

However, Keith and other campaigners hope the community group can buy part of the land and also leverage the purchase to buy surrounding acres and ensure the school’s sustainability.

To secure Gellings’ future, the community will need to raise close to £3m. To achieve this, the group have applied to the Government’s Common Ownership Fund – part of a levelling up programme designed to support community groups to ‘take ownership of assets which are at risk of being lost’.

They are applying for £2m from this fund however the most money ever granted from the Community Ownership Fund is approximately £500,000.

To access the fund the land must be put up for sale before any application can be submitted. The application must be submitted by January 30, which gives the group just 10 days. However once the application is submitted they will then have six months to raise the funds needed to purchase the land.

One of the reasons Gellings’ campaign has garnered widespread support is the concern around development on green belt land.

Although, there are currently no plans to allow development on the green belt land where Gellings is situated, the LDRS understands there is real concern amongst community groups around this issue and what the current land owners hope to gain.

Cllr Mark Burke is a Liberal Democrat councillor in Knowsley and a member of the planning committee. Cllr Burke was in attendance at Saturday’s meeting.

He told the LDRs: “This is a great community asset. We don’t want any community asset stripped. In fact, we’d like to improve it.

“There is no reason why this particular plot should be released [for green belt development].

Ian Byrne MP was keen to stress the importance of communities coming together and to show how important Gellings Riding School is to the entire Liverpool city region. Mr Byrne said: “At the meeting today, the message of the importance of this facility for so many across the local and wider City region community come through loud and clear.

"We cannot afford to lose this crucial resource and I look forward to doing everything I can to get a positive result and help to save the riding school.”

Despite all the obstacles, campaigners are optimistic they can save Gellings Riding School. Keith Hackett said: “I’m hugely optimistic we’re going to achieve a good outcome here. I saw people from all over Merseyside pulling as one on this. It was wonderful to see. After all, it’s Merseyside, we always get things across the line together”.

Gellings Riding School now has until 30 January to submit their Community Ownership Fund and secure its future.