The team behind a successful inner city riding school have been left "heartbroken" after they were forced to pull the plug on an expansion which has left them owing thousands to backers.
Park Palace Ponies, set up on Mill Street in Dingle in 2017, offers riding lessons to inner city children. The scheme operates out of the former Park Palace theatre and its success led to plans to create a full-sized facility in the south of the city.
Following a successful crowd-funder which raised £76,500, the team went on to lease a site at Walker’s Woods off Mersey Road in Aigburth where it set about constructing the new riding school. However the project was conditional on securing additional grazing space for the horses in order to be granted a licence by Liverpool City Council.
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Bridget Griffin, 27, chair of the board at Park Palace Ponies, said eleventh hour discussions were still being held with Liverpool City Council last week in a bid to convince the authority to lease the grazing space required. Liverpool City Council claims that 20 acres have been asked for, but Ms Griffin said the figure was in the region of four to five acres of green space nearby to Walker’s Woods.
The riding school chair said that talks did not advance leaving the team without the necessary grazing space and licence to operate. This means it cannot recoup money while paying for the rental of its new site - leased from a private landlord.
Park Palace Ponies has therefore taken the decision not to pursue the new site any further. It has started dismantling its facilities and will look to begin paying back donors who helped raise £76,500.
While some donors have chosen not to recall the funds, it still leaves the team searching for around £47,000 to pay back. To help find the money needed, the site is being taken apart and equipment is now being sold off, with Ms Griffin describing the team as “heartbroken” as it deconstructs facilities only recently assembled.
A statement from Liverpool City Council said that “Park Palace Ponies have been a great asset to the Dingle and Toxteth community in recent years and the Council has been pleased to support their efforts.” It added: “The Council remains in dialogue with the team at Park Palace Ponies and will try to provide as much guidance and advice as possible to support their endeavours.”
Ms Griffin said that the decision to pull the plug on the new riding school was made with another year of rent for the Mersey Road site due on July 1. This would come at a cost of £30,000 with no means to secure income due to having no licence to offer classes.
The team has significantly cut into its reserves over the last 12 months but said it could not risk jeopardising the Mill Street site which is reportedly in need of essential repairs to its roof. The chair of the riding school said the organisation has already had to “prove its worth” with its Dingle operation but quickly did so - noting how there is now “hundreds” currently on a waiting list to join.
Ms Griffin told the ECHO: “In six years we have proven that we can do it. [This outcome] makes no sense.
“We are bringing so much to the council and so much to the local community. The council is missing a trick.”
She added that the decision has been taken to not press on with the larger site to ensure Park Palace Ponies does not “go under.” Ms Bridget said plans are now “all up in the air” but a possible new venture is being looked at and considered around Alder Hey children’s hospital.
A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said: “Park Palace Ponies have been a great asset to the Dingle and Toxteth community in recent years and the Council has been pleased to support their efforts. Their decision to expand operations has created a demand for 20 acres of grazing land which the Council, unfortunately, simply does not have.
“There are also potential planning issues with their second facility in south Liverpool that will need to be addressed. The Council remains in dialogue with the team at Park Palace Ponies and will try to provide as much guidance and advice as possible to support their endeavours.”
