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Northern Roots – Turning 160 acres of green space into an urban farm and eco-park
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Northern Roots is creating the UK’s largest urban farm and country park on 160 acres of stunning green space in the heart of Oldham. From market gardening to mountain biking, forest schools to woodland weddings, come on the journey with us and help bring the vision to life.

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Introducing the first CYCLOPS junction in the UK
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The UK‘s first CYCLOPS (Cycle Optimised Protected Signals) junction was launched in Hulme, South Manchester. The unique design separates pedestrians and cyclists from traffic, reducing the possibility of collisions or conflict.

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Grow Green – Manchester’s first park that drinks water
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See how West Gorton community park in Greater Manchester is installing nature based solutions to reduce the likelihood of flooding.

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Building a City of Trees – Making Greater Manchester Green
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Greater Manchester is home to 11.3 million trees and we have ambitious plans to improve our woodlands. See what amazing things our trees can do for us and how you can help to build a greener Greater Manchester.

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All Our Trees: The amazing things our trees can do for us
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All Our Trees is Greater Manchester’s tree and woodland strategy and quantifies the incredible value of the city region’s 11.3 million trees, demonstrating why we should protect them, and outlines where to plant more trees. Watch this short film to see all of the amazing things our trees do for us.

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Report of the Greater Manchester Local Nature Recovery Strategy Pilot
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The Greater Manchester Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) pilot sets out local priorities for restoring and linking up habitats to tackle the biodiversity emergency and agree the best places to do that and, at the same time, deliver wider benefits for people and the environment. 

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Sow the City Growing Manchester
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The Growing Manchester programme helps communities to access the support they need to develop successful food growing projects.

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Investing in a Greener Greater Manchester: A nature-based solutions investment guide for local authorities
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This guide outlines a range of innovative investment and management opportunities for local authorities, demonstrating the benefits and the feasibility of large scale, public-sector-led nature-based solutions delivery.

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The power of nature for employee wellbeing – Toolkit
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This toolkit outlines some of the benefits nature has for employee wellbeing and explores possible interventions.

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IGNITION Interim Report
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This report provides insight into progress on the IGNITION project.

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Guide to greening your workspace
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Covers  some of the ways that businesses can use nature-based solutions to improve their resilience, enhance their environment and improve biodiversity.

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Nature-based solutions to the climate emergency – Business Guide
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This report is a curation of the existing evidence that demonstrates the economic, environmental and societal benefits that nature-based solutions provide.

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Take action…

To make a big change, we must all take small actions. Becoming greener and making an impact is easier than you might think. We have put together a range of blogs, articles, toolkits and checklists to help you make a start.

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Although we set out with a simple mission to reduce plastic waste, we’ve quickly realised that it’s just one piece in the sustainability puzzle. One of the biggest, but most easily attainable actions we can achieve is to look at where our goods come from and reduce the carbon footprint needed to get a product from manufacturer to consumer. Many of the products we stock are made by local, independent manufactures, who provide us with a wide range of things from reusable face wipes, wax food wraps, face coverings, soap bars, plant pots, kitchen cloths/sponges and butty bags.

Carl from Lentils and Lather

Our aim is to start changing the habits of families in Greater Manchester by getting them to ‘borrow’ rather than ‘buy’ brand new toys. We’re making sure that toys can be reused again and again by children who need and want them – and they are not just sitting in a cupboard or under someone’s bed.

Kim from That Toy Thing

The best part of upcycling is that old furniture is often better made than the equivalent flat-packed furniture we get today and with a little bit of time, love and care, you can create a completely unique piece of furniture for your home that no one else will have. I also love that these pieces of furniture have a history of their own and through transforming and updating them we can breathe a new lease of life into them.

Hannah from Tread Softly

The Green Recovery Challenge Fund is providing a further boost to the ambitions of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership to create a thriving, inspirational and connected landscape. It supports the recovery of wildlife through habitat creation and improvement as well as community recovery through providing opportunities for local people to develop skills, knowledge and beneficial connections to their local natural environment.

Jo Kennedy, Coordinator of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership

The reason I signed up to the Green Homes Grant scheme was two-fold, selfishly the measures will add value to the properties and make them more valuable in the future. But more importantly it benefits the tenants, keeping them warmer and prevents problems like damp and condensation. Ultimately measures like external wall insulations should keep tenants happier and ensure they remain in the house for longer.

Neil, Rochdale property owner

We used to think we didn’t have enough time to shop on our local market because we were working; how wrong we were?  We discovered it is an amazing place to shop for plastic free. We swapped tea bags for tea leaves and coffee jars for beans which we buy from The Market Grounds on Ashton Market – well worth a visit as the homemade cakes are delicious. All the stall holders have been amazing, not one of them minds us taking our containers to be filled with meat from the butchers. We get our bread, cheese, fruit and veg from the market too.

Julie from Ashton-under-Lyne

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

The Business Growth Hub has given us focus and extra knowledge. They’ve helped us form the base to grow sustainably and work efficiently as a team while making us conscious of our environmental impact as a business.

 

Ollie Birchall, Founder of Nutri Bar

I’ve not really been a cyclist throughout my life, more of a runner to be honest. And certainly not commuted. But I just thought if I’m going to change, surely now is the moment to change. I’m feeling the personal benefits of doing it. You just feel better when you come into work. It clears your head. There are benefits of cutting congestion, cleaning up the air. Everyone benefits when people cycle.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester

We think our water fountain is INCREDIBLE, it’s the perfect place for people to ‘refill’ and help themselves to any of the free edibles we’ve got growing in Market Place. We’re so grateful to all the organisations that helped make this happen. Alongside the plastic free motion that was passed by council and helped us achieve our first Surfers Against Sewage objective and in turn our Plastic Free Community status, it shows real commitment in reducing plastic waste and supporting our community.

 

Pete Fillery, Plastic Free Rammy and Incredible Edible Ramsbottom

I guess I’ve always been what you would call a conscious consumer. I’ve always detested plastic bags, all of my skin care products at home are plastic-free, vegan, and sustainable. My toothbrush is made of bamboo, there’s no plastic anywhere in the house. Everything in the salon has to be vegan – that was the first rule for me. We started with one brand of haircare products that was vegan, organic, and Fairtrade, but the distributor in the UK was wrapping all of the deliveries in plastic, and it felt really needless, so we ditched them.

 

Rachael, Gronn eco-salon in Bury

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

 

Kat Mulhall, Victoria Baths Trust, Manchester

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