A team from Dowhigh Ltd has been on the Village Green today clearing overgrown shrubs, scattering poppy seeds and replanting. Some plants have been recycled but many new plants have been supplied by the marvellous Bud Garden Centre. The planters have been refreshed with new soil and plants and the whole area will be cleaned and tidied up. New murals are also planned. It is a big improvement already and we look forward to seeing how it develops and the final results. Hopefully the Bee will be repaired as well as we have previously reported the cracks and damage.
Levenshulme and Burnage Open Gardens are back again on Sunday 4 June, 11.00-17.00. Programmes are on sale from Trove on Stockport Rd and Bud Garden Centre on Omer Drive.
All proceeds will be donated to Growing Together Levenshulme.
Thanks to Brenda Smith at Bud Garden Centre for organising the Open Gardens.
Levenshulme continues to be blighted by litter and dumping.
The Great British Spring Clean is 17 March – 23 April 2023. Back for its eighth year, the Great British Spring Clean is the nation’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign. You can pledge to pick up a bag of litter – or more – from today.
The £2.6m Greater Manchester Green Spaces Fund supports community-led projects that increase the amount and quality of accessible, nature-rich green space in the city region, particularly in the areas where people need it most.
The first round of applications will close at 9am on August 22nd, 2022.
The Bee Sanctuary has got together an amazing group of people with specialist knowledge to help them make as comprehensive as possible record of the wildlife on the Bee Sanctuary and Highfield Country Park in ONE DAY.
Birdwatchers, Bug hunters, Bee botherers, Slug lovers and all nature watchers welcome.
Join the Friends of Highfield Country Park for their monthly walk around the park on Saturday 28th May!
They will be exploring different areas of the park and discovering the range of nature and wildlife that can be found. This will also be a chance to find out more about the Friends group and their future plans.
Everyone is welcome to join and the walk will be suitable for all ages and abilities. Meet by the Bowler Street entrance (postcode: M19 2UA) at 11am with the walk lasting until around 12.30pm.
An amber warning has been issued for Manchester tomorrow as Storm Eunice is forecast to bring extremely strong winds.
Winds may reach 50-70mph between 10:00 and 16:00 tomorrow. Although still likely to be windy after 16:00 it is not expected to be disruptively so. The initial forecast impacts of snow are not thought to be likely across Manchester. Saturday is expected to be calmer but further heavy rain and high winds are expected Sunday into Monday with potential flooding but this will be closely monitored.
The key utilities providers and Emergency services have high levels of preparedness and resilience. Disruption to the rail network is expected to be high and they are asking people not to travel by rail tomorrow. Transport for Greater Manchester is asking people to consider if there journey is really necessary and only travel if required.
Key impacts as a result are likely to be damage to trees, buildings, particularly tall buildings and building sites with cranes/scaffolding, flying debris and disruption to travel.
With the unusually high speed of the winds please be aware about potential for damage on building sites, cranes, scaffolding etc.
Updated with Grangethorpe Drive plan 14 January 2022
NEW DEADLINE for consultation 30 January 2022 (announced 14 January)
Manchester City Council has released the final plans for the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood today. A consultation is now open for the next six weeks.
The overview map is below. An interactive version that you can zoom in on is available HERE.
Scroll down to see ALL information published by the the council.
If you would like to attend one of these events please email the council’s Project Team at levyburnageproject@manchester.gov.uk to register your interest. You will be sent details on how to join.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority has partnered with the Big Clean Switch energy comparison site to encourage switching to clean energy. This includes a £35 credit when you switch to one of the participating suppliers.
“Greater Manchester Combined Authority is committed to making the city a clean energy leader. We face major environmental challenges that threaten the health and prosperity of our region. Greater Manchester is taking action with the 5-Year Environment Plan, to be launched at the Green Summit. The plan sets out our long-term environmental vision – to be carbon neutral by 2038 – and the urgent actions we all need to take in the next 5 years to help achieve this.”
BIG CLEAN switch website
Andy Burnham (Greater Manchester Mayor) was promoting the scheme on BBC Radio Manchester today (23 September 2021). However, caution is advised as one of the suppliers used by the Big Clean Switch site – Bulb Energy – is currently in crisis talks with the government with reports that it has or will go bust very soon.
The Big Clean Switch website for this offer is available HERE
Please Note: Energy supplies in the UK are currently in a chaotic state with suppliers going bust and extreme volatility in the market. The LCA is sharing this for information only and this does not constitute advice or a recommendation in any way.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority says:
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is working with Big Clean Switch to offer residents £35 of free energy when they switch to a green tariff from some of the UK’s most trusted suppliers.
With many households across Greater Manchester facing rising bills due to more time spent at home, the scheme helps residents switch to low cost, high quality green energy tariffs.
You’ll be able to compare your current energy bill with how much you’ll spend with each of Big Clean Switch’s green suppliers*. Suppliers who are offering the £35 free energy with an account credit will show in the supplier list. If you choose a supplier that isn’t taking part, GMCA will receive £35 to help fund local environmental projects.
Once you’ve selected your preferred deal, just add in a few details to get your new energy account set up. Your £35 of free energy will be added to your new account within six weeks of the switch going live.
For more information on the scheme, email help@bigcleanswitch.org or call Big Clean Switch on 0800 249 4770.
Funding of up to £10,000 is available from In Our Nature. Information below.
Apply for up to £10k of grant funding & bring your community project to life!
Are you part of a Manchester based community, youth or voluntary group? Has your group got an innovative project idea to help your community come together to take positive action on the environment?
If the answer is yes – apply for a community project grant and bring your group’s ideas to life! You’ll be helping us on our mission to unlock the potential of households and communities to respond to the climate emergency.
What are we looking for? We are looking for projects that take an innovative, community-led approach to tackling a local environmental issue, which also delivers social and financial benefits to their local community.
Who can apply? We can award grants to a variety of non-profit and voluntary groups such as community groups, youth clubs, schools, resident and neighbourhood associations, community interest companies and social enterprises.
Successful groups will receive…
A grant of up to 10k to bring their project to life.
Opportunities to connect and share experiences with the other successful groups.
Access to wider support through the “In Our Nature” programme including:
There will be a litter pick at Cringle Park and Field on Sunday. These happen on the first Sunday of every month 10-11.00. Meet at the stone circle. Bags are provided. Please bring your own litter picker and gloves if you have them.
The Friends of Cringle Park and Field are doing a survey:
“The Friends of Cringle Park and Field want to create a vision and a long term plan to improve the park. To be able to do this we want to find out who uses the park, why they use it, what they like about it and what they would like to change. All the information you give us will help us secure money to improve the park.This is the first of what will be an annual survey. Please share the survey link with friends and family as we would like as many individual people as possible to complete it. The survey has 13 questions and should only take 5 minutes to complete. Thank you very much!”
Design Your Own Eco-Street from Groundwork Greater Manchester gives communities the chance to win £6,000 funding to transform an unused area into a green space.
The Eco-Streets competition seeks to transform two un-used, un-loved areas in Greater Manchester into spaces that feature nature-based-solutions to climate change. Each design will receive £6,000 in funding and support from Groundwork’s Community Enablers to transform their spaces in 2021.
With support from Groundwork, Eco-Streets will equip communities with the skills to design, install and maintain natural features to create vibrant, green community spaces to benefit people while tackling climate change.
Further information including eligibility and how to register interest is available HERE
Are you aged 18+ and live in the Central Manchester area?*
Are you interested in where you live, your community & the environment?
Do you want to lead a community project but don’t know where to start?
Why not apply to be part of a new, unique & free online programme:
Caring for the Environment Together
This is a great opportunity to get more involved in your local area to help bring about positive change, increase your skills and knowledge and develop new local connections.
More information is on the flyer below. Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact either Chris, Claire or Liam (contact details on the flyer).
The deadline for applications is midday on Friday 16 October. I appreciate this maybe short notice, but the good news is that the application process is a very straightforward process.
Applications are invited from people living in the following areas: Ardwick, Hulme, Longsight, Levenshulme, Gorton & Abbey Hey, Rusholme, Moss Side, Deansgate, Piccadilly
The project has now been split into two with Phase 1 covering Levenshulme and Phase 2 covering Burnage. A trial of road blocks / “modal filters” will start in December 2020 and last for a minimum of six months.
Note that a “modal filter” is the name given to something that blocks the road to vehicular traffic but still allows access through for pedestrians and cyclists (and presumably mopeds and motorbikes).
Manchester City Council says:
We now have a plan for the future direction of the project, and have decided to tackle it in two phases. We would like your feedback on some of the measures which we are going to trial (Phase 1). The trial measures will start to be put in place from December (during school holidays).This is also a great way for the scheme to be seen in action, tested and analysed, so it can be tweaked or changed where required but also allow peoples habits to change and through traffic to re-route.
Because of the density of schools in the Cringle Park (Phase 2) area, and issues with traffic congestion, we are continuing to seek opinions from local residents, businesses and schools on what measures are needed and where before they are trialled.
We hope to commence the trial in the Festive season break in December and will last a minimum of 6 months. The final designs for the Active neighbourhood will be drawn up based on the results of the consultation and implemented within 18 months should the funding application be successful.
MCC Active Neighbourhood Plans
The Phase 1 trial area excludes Burnage. No date has been suggested yet for Phase 2 in Burnage. The Phase 1 / Phase 2 split has been done based on political Wards, not the Park Area cells the Project has identified which is why the Henderson Street road block / “modal filter” is included in Phase 1.
The Levenshulme Phase 1 trial identifies 25 road blocks / “modal filters” outlined on the map below. The revised plans are not very different to the original plans. We will look at them in detail and post further information once we have worked out what differences there are.
The Phase 1 trial is still primarily for road blocks / “modal filters”. The council is also asking for feedback on where temporary crossings and traffic calming could be located as part of its Phase 1 consultation. The council says:
The trial includes a number of temporary crossing points and traffic calming measures to provide immediate benefits on routes that have been raised through previous consultation. [ * ]
We understand from previous feedback that traffic volume and speeds make certain streets hard to cross. We’d like you to tell us where you feel crossing points or traffic calming may help day to day life and make getting around safer and easier.
Further community feedback on the locations of these is welcomed, so that a final Trial Plan can be developed. The trial plan has a degree of flexibility once live, but we need to allow the trial to bed in to understand how habits change and the trial is being used.
MCC Active Neighbourhood crossings and traffic calming
[ * NOTE: there is no evidence of this on the map for the Phase 1 trial]
Give your feedback
Phase 1 feedback (Levenshulme) can only be made by responding to the 25 locations identified by the council. You can, however, drop a pin on the map for the Phase 2 feedback (Burnage) to identify a location and comment where you think an intervention could or should be located.
Phase 1 (Levenshulme)
You can comment HERE on the proposed road blocks / “modal filters”.
You can comment HERE on where you think crossings and traffic calming should go.
Levenshulme Community Association is grateful to Manchester Urban Observatory for this article following contact with Dr Jen O’Brien and Prof. James Evans. We will continue to provide information and updates as they become available to help everyone understand the Active Neighbourhood proposals and be involved in the process to get the best we can for our community. This fits with several of the aims of the Levenshulme Community Manifesto.
Manchester Urban Observatory and the Levenshulme Active Neighbourhood – improving decision making with data
The Manchester Urban Observatory is part of a network of 6 Urban Observatories across England which are developing a new approach to the monitoring and understanding of cities. Our goal is to ensure future decision making is informed by a detailed appreciation of the consequences and complexity of urbanisation. The Manchester Urban Observatory is based at the University of Manchester, bringing together expertise from across the humanities, environmental sciences and health. Our role is to work with local partners to support the better planning and delivery of urban development. We operate entirely independent, with our funding secured through the UK Collaboratorium on Infrastructure and Cities.
Levenshulme Community Association is delighted to have worked with partners to plant a living tree on the Village Green.
The new tree will be a permanent feature and means that we will no longer have to pay annually for a Christmas tree. The new tree has been planted in the same position as the Christmas tree is positioned. This means the Village Green remains unobstructed with good views of the Levenshulme Bee and when decorated with lights at Christmas it will be visible from a distance along Stockport Road.
The tree is a sequoiadendron giganteum (giant redwood). This is the best type of tree because it is resilient, long lasting and will establish itself quickly. It was supplied by Glendale Civic Trees, imported from the Netherlands.
We are grateful to Manchester City Council for providing funding through the Neighbourhood Investment Fund. Sponsors also providing funding are:
Levenshulme Traders Association
Great Places
One Manchester
Manchester Central Fund
Levenshulme Community Association
Thanks to Manchester City Council for arranging all necessary groundworks and in particular to Ikhlas Ur-Rahman, MCC Neighbourhood Officer for providing the support and coordination to enable this project to happen. This would also not have been possible without the support of Levenshulme Councillors Dzidra Noor, Basat Sheikh and Bernard Stone.
The Living Tree also meets several of the aims of the Levenshulme Community Manifesto including to:
Protect and enhance our formal and informal green spaces for recreation and play.
Promote changes for clean air and to reduce pollution.
Improve our urban landscape, for example with more street trees.
“As you may have seen in an article on Manchester Evening New’s website yesterday Manchester City Council are now looking to build a school on Showcase Cinema, Hyde Road and not Nutsford Vale. We held our monthly meeting today and we our very pleased with this outcome. As stated on Manchester City Council’s website and the article on line, it has proved far too expensive to build safely on Nutsford Vale. Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last three years. NUTSFORD VALE STAYS GREEN!!”
