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Manchester’s Great Outdoors – the Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy for Manchester 2015–25 – is one of the most ambitious policy documents developed and delivered by a local authority in recent years.
Over the past few decades, Manchester has worked hard to achieve a dramatic transformation in much of its environment. High-quality neighbourhoods, parks and tree-filled river valley sites are now found where once there were the remains of former industrial use and poor-quality housing. Drawing on all this energy and in line with commitments made within Manchester’s Local Plan (Core Strategy 2012–27) and the city’s ambitious climate change action plan, Manchester: A Certain Future (MACF), the Strategy and accompanying Implementation Plan were approved by the Council in July 2015. It is an integral part of delivering key elements of Our Manchester Strategy: a city recognised for its high quality of life, where all residents can live well.
This review looks at what has been achieved in terms of Manchester’s green and blue infrastructure during the first three years of the Strategy. It sets out the context within which the Strategy was written and continues to be delivered. It acknowledges that the Strategy has been an accelerator in a continuing spectrum of collaborative work to improve Manchester’s environment. It provides a picture of Manchester’s key green assets as well as what has and is being done to make Manchester greener. It identifies the key headlines from the past three years, how the Strategy has made a difference, and finally points to how the Implementation Plan will be refreshed over the next year.