ADAPTING / Introduction

WHAT ACTIONS RELATE TO YOU?

Lifestyle

Maximise the contribution of gardens and individual/household space to green infrastructure, including advice and training on grow your own schemes. Encourage more people to grow food at home organically.

Maximise the contribution of gardens and individual/household space to green infrastructure, including advice and training on domestic composting.

Maximise the contribution of gardens and individual/household space to green infrastructure, including advice and training on sustainable garden management.

Planning

Increase installation of green roofs within the city, both on new developments and retrofitted to existing buildings.

Identify sustainable and innovative options to increase the coverage of public green infrastructure in the city, including supporting the Piccadilly and Oxford Road Corridor public realm developments.

Seek to retain and improve existing open spaces, sport and recreation facilities.

Provide a network of diverse, multi-functional open spaces (Research and identify opportunities to create new wildlife corridors and biodiversity areas).

Identify and implement best practice in soil management.

Identify and develop good practice in resolving legislation for private gardens, including enforcement and regulation to assist in sustainable use of land by individual private owners.

Review and improve methods of green space master planning in development, including setting standards for the quality, accessibility and quantity of open space.

Develop guidance to ensure GI-based adaptation measures are considered as part of any new development, and are supported by policies in the LDF where possible.

Create a framework of public support, awareness, education and engagement with the residents of Manchester around the need for and benefits of GI.

Increase tree coverage in Manchester, including street trees and woodland cover.

Remediate derelict, underused and neglected land and brownfield spaces into maintained green space.

Work towards the completion and implementation of management plans for Council-owned woodland, parks and river valleys.

Install 'cool pavement' materials to increase surface reflectivity and rainfall permeability to combat the urban heat island effect and help to reduce the risk of localised flooding.

Research

Carry out a co-ordinated Land Audit of the city region to assess current and potential future land use.

Explore development of trial biofuel and biomass planting and timber waste fuel production to progress alternative and sustainable energy production.

Identify best practice in managing GI in response to climate change - using international research as well as local planning and ecology experts.

Support the Eco Cities project and other research into GI and spatial planning.

Research and identify species and habitats that are suited to predicted future climates, including identification of species/habitats that are likely to decline.

Co-ordinate and undertake research to develop an understanding of water flows across the city, including rivers and localised flooding caused by issues such as heavy rainfall.

Water

Identify and implement best practice in waterways management to improve water quality and biodiversity. Maximise the contribution of water bodies to reduce flood risk and provide irrigation.

Support innovative use of water for cooling, such as deculverting waterways and using aquifers or surface water for cooling.

Encourage zero net external water requirements of external landscapes in new developments.

The future forecast for Manchester will see hotter, drier summers combined with warmer, wetter winters. In our urban areas there will be an increased ‘heat island effect’ where city centres see temperatures rise at a higher rate.

Green spaces and waterways have a big part to play in adapting to these changes as a place to grow food, for recreation and general health and wellbeing. They also provide important habitats for wildlife – some of which, like bees, are critical to our food supply.

The goal is achievable and worth striving for – an increase in green infrastructure and urban tree cover will help us hold temperatures in densely urban as the climate changes.

From green roofs to greener, tree-lined streets, all the measures outlined in this section of our plan will create a Manchester that is a pleasant place to live. The kind of Manchester we can promote to the world.