SALFORD AIMS TO BE EVEN GREENER CITY

The new Greenspace Strategy updates the previous planning guidance for developers, which has been in place since 2006 and sets out how the council aims to protect and enhance green areas of the city.

It details Salford’s ambitions to provide three new nature reserves, new parks, play spaces and allotments and invest more than £10 million in bringing existing parks, play spaces nature reserves and other green spaces up to new standards.

Councillor Derek Antrobus, lead member for planning and sustainable development, said it was an ambitious vision which, given the current funding challenges faced by local government would take ‘decades rather than years’ to realise.

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 “Since 2006 Salford has seen a huge level of green investment from the £44 million site of the fifth national RHS garden, Garden Bridgewater, to the council’s investment in a 28 kilometre of green, traffic free cycling and walking routes across the city using old railway lines,” he said.

“A new wetland has been created as part of the £10 million second flood basin along with the 558 acre country park bordering Salford, Bolton and Wigan at Cutacre Park which surrounds the Logistics North employment site. These are both hugely important for wildlife as well as people.

“We’ve also secured funding to revitalise the Bridgewater Canal and restore Peel Park back to its Victorian glory. We’ve also seen considerable investment in many of our parks and now have an excellent and growing network of friends of parks groups and other community volunteers who dedicate a huge amount of time and effort to keeping our city looking green and great.

“This updated strategy sets out our stall for the next decade or more and will help us work with developers to provide new green spaces, play and recreation facilities while protecting and enhancing existing ones.

“It lists many of the improvements we want to see such as providing new parks and play areas in Clarendon and Swinton and replacing play equipment and outdoor gyms, improving footpaths, access routes and signage across most of our existing parks and play areas to bring them up to new standards.

 “We will partly be reliant on development opportunities for this because of the funding challenges local government faces. That means it will take decades rather than years to achieve the high standards we have set out in this plan, but the scale of development planned for Salford in the next 10 years provides a significant opportunity to make our city even greener.”

 

The Greenspace Strategy, which went out to public consultation in 2015 and 2017, supports the Salford Local Plan which sets out details of proposed development sites across the city and the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework which sets out a strategic overview of development across the city region.