'Save the Trees of Whalley Range'

One could be forgiven for thinking that Manchester City Council doesn't like trees (actually maybe they really don't). Last week's post showed the swathe of devastation which the planned Metrolink has wrought across the Mersey Valley. Also GMPTE are sticking to the plan to run it down the central reservation of Mauldeth Road West, destroying the trees down that avenue.

This week's post moves further north to the leafy (for now) suburb of Whalley Range. The City Council's Neighbourhood Services team are planning to chop down around 400 trees much to the consternation of local residents. Following rumblings over the winter months, the council set out in force yesterday (Monday 14th) with chainsaws at the ready.

They met a vigorous protest, as local residents and supporters gathered to defend their trees. And it was victory to the protesters as the Council had to turn tail, without a tree being felled, see report on the BBC website here. Green colleagues Ayo Ogolo (pictured) and Anne Power were present supporting the residents.

Unfortunately contractors returned later, but battle has now been joined!

However there is much more to this campaign than direct action; residents have been fighting for a sensible approach from the Council for months. On hearing of the threat to a large number of the area's street trees, a community group was set up called Whalley Range Trees . They are also on Facebook: Save the Trees of Whalley Range They will welcome additional support for the battles ahead!.

On other fronts:

- Manchester cycling campaign group Love Your Bike (linked to Friends of the Earth) are asking people to contact their councillors and transport chiefs over the imposition of steps (due to Metrolink) on the Trans-Pennine Trail. Link to email action here

- Transition Chorlton: The inaugural meeting at Wild at Heart went well, with a large number of ideas collected via post-its, see here Next big event in this area will be the Big Green Festival (more on this soon)

'Mega Tesco' - sadly the hopes may have finally gone of protecting the local shops of nearby Trafford, Stretford and beyond from what is possibly Britain's biggest Tesco. A Tory-led Government was always likely to back the Tory Trafford Council, and the well-funded campaign by Lancashire Cricket Club was always likely to stump the wishes of local residents.

Early March Miscellany

As the first daffodils show their petals, there's plenty happening in the Chorlton area right now.

Meeting - Greenest Government Ever?

Yesterday saw a well-attended (over 30 people) public meeting in Chorlton Central church on 'the Greenest Government ever?' organised by friends of the Earth, with local Lib Dem MP John Leech, Katie Brandon of SNAG (speaking on the Manchester Climate Action plan) and Dave Timms fromNational FoE. There was a consensus view that to become 'the Greenest Government Ever' was not much of a challenge given past Government's records. Beyond that, John Leech had the unenviable task of defending the Government's current record, with Dave Timms making sure that an objective view was well-covered (for instance on my question expressing concern at the resurgence of nuclear).

Given that it was organised by FoE, it was in a Church Hall and there were no obvious Labour people there (were they at the anti-cuts demo in Town??) it was a polite affair. A further consensus view was that it was too soon to tell if this Government could achieve the modest 'Greenest ever' tag; it's fair to say that there wasn't a lot of optimism. A key topic of the meeting was the Climate Bill which is going through Parliament, more details here. John Leech, to his credit, is proposing an amendment on private sector properties. Go here for a photo of meeting attenders calling for action on the Climate Bill


Events

This Wednesday (9th) sees 2 important events: In the morning, the City Council meets to debate its budget (10 am Manchester Town hall), complete with the savage cuts which have been widely publicised. Given the Council's political make-up I think we can expect how the meeting will go, but I'm sure both sides will regale us with the usual empty party-political points scoring; that's what the last council meeting was like, expect more of the same in spades.

The evening sees the first Transition Chorlton meeting at 'Wild at Heart' at 5.30 pm - I'm not one of the organisers but I know the guy who's set up the meeting and I'll be there to see what gets off the ground. The Transition movement is driven by Peak Oil as much as by Climate Change, but the solutions are similar. Event details here


Finally updates on a couple of campaigns from last year:

Firstly - Chorlton Meadows - following victory over the massive football pitch application last year, the application for a Village Green sadly fell via a technicality over signage, despite months of dedicated hard work by the campaigners. Whilst local residents wait with bated breath to see what the football club will come up with next, the heavy hand of GMPTE has been wreaking havoc on the other side of the pavilion.

Now I want to see better public transport links between Manchester's suburbs, and I think trams have a useful role to play within that; however anyone feeling this is a form of transport which is always green and environmentally friendly should take a look at the swathe of dereliction running from the end of Hardy Lane to Jackson's Boat see photo:

If trams are there to reduce road transport then they should be running on road space not green space, i.e. on some of the space currently taken by Princes Parkway. A radical suggestion you may think; it's also one I've heard expressed by John Leech MP. However even though an MP of one of our Governing coalition partners, John is powerless to exert any influence; indeed his fellow Lib Dems are claiming local residents are delighted with the route which has been agreed.

Secondly - the Mega-Tesco. This is the vast Tesco supermarket which Trafford Council approved some time back, linked to developments at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, where Lancashire County Cricket provided intense lobbying for the MegaTesco. Derwent holdings, who had an application for a large Sainsbury's at nearby White City have a legal challenge. Derwent's application was turned down, for reasons which would have applied even more to the Tesco - hmm. Anyway a decision is expected this week - watch this space.