Residents launch campaign to keep former IM Marsh site as a community sports hub

Residents have launched a campaign to try to keep the former I.M. Marsh campus in south Liverpool as a community hub for sports.

The I.M. Marsh campus on Barkhill Road, which is owned by John Moores University, has been closed since 2021 when sports and education faculties based there were moved to the city centre.

Plans were drawn up soon afterwards which included around 200 homes, a new park and new cycle paths, but in 2022 the university announced it would be retaining its “valuable asset.”

Now Mossley Hill Residents Association is concerned that the land could be considered again for housing development.

And it has launched a petition in an effort to show how strongly local people feel about not losing the site which has been linked to sport for over a century.

The petition highlights the opportunities I.M. Marsh has given thousands of people to stay active, adding: “For generations, I.M. Marsh Campus has been at the heart of our community, a place where sport, education, and community life have thrived together.”

It goes on to say that building housing on the land, would result in increased traffic congestion, pressure on services and the loss of sports facilities, having “a lasting detrimental impact on our area.”

Dave Thomas, chairman of Mossley Hill Residents Association, says he hopes the petition: “will show the groundswell of opinion among residents which is they want to keep it.

“At this stage no-one’s saying it is going to be a residential development but we want to make it clear we don’t want it to be.

“We really want it to be a sports complex for everyone to use and enjoy. It’s something that could benefit the whole of this area so it can’t be lost for the community. 

“I speak to so many people and when I tell them about I.M. Marsh, they’ll say ‘I did trampolining there’ or football or hockey. It has so many decades of history and they want their children to enjoy that as well but that’s what we’d be losing.

“It’s important that LJMU know this is the feeling and we get local voices heard. If the old Carnatic Halls on North Mossley Hill Road does become housing that’s only half a mile away from this site and Barkhill Road just can’t cope with another residential development.”

In addition to JMU and the city council, Dave has been in contact with Sport England on behalf of the residents’ association to make the organisation aware of local worries.

“They would make the decision as to whether LJMU would be allowed to sell that site for housing,” he explains.  “Sport England are impartial so we have no idea which way that final decision would go but we do know they are very good at retaining playing fields, they have a very high success rate.

“We believe Irene Mabel Marsh, who was a pioneer in physical education especially for girls, left that site to be used for sport and dance, not for homes. 

“We want her sports legacy to continue, for students and for local people, and Mossley Hill ceases to be Mossley Hill if you have new developments on every corner.”

You can sign the petition here.

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