Green Streets

The Green Streets project helps local communities in Manchester, Salford and Trafford to green their neighbourhoods by planting street trees, making hanging baskets, filling planters with flowers, creating community gardens or establishing environmental art works.

Rather than just giving out funding, or telling local people what they should have, Green Streets works closely with residents, helping them to design their scheme, find appropriate funding, consult their neighbours and maintain the planting once its gone in.

If you would like to find out more about Green Streets, please click here or contact the Green Streets manager on 0161 872 1660 or pete@redroseforest.co.uk

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"The Green Streets project is an excellent example of a sustainable urban greening project, where the impact reaches much further than the aesthetic appearance of the street scene. Communities are working together to help deliver Green Streets and it is encouraging to witness their commitment to improving their local environment for the long term". Tony McNulty MP, Minister for Regeneration 2002-2003

Green Streets Case Studies:

Walter Street, Old Trafford

Walter Street is in Old Trafford, an area of the Trafford Borough that suffers from social problems including vandalism, graffiti and other youth crime. Residents from Walter Street approached Red Rose Forest and requested the help of the Green Streets project. They wanted to not only replace a number of oppressive and overgrown shrubs with more suitable street greening treatments but to also engage local people (especially young people) increasing their sense of local pride community responsibility.
The project was delivered in two phases; the first involved the removal of the unwanted Pyracantha bushes. Both local people and Greater Manchester Police had expressed concern that these bushes made the street a potentially threatening place to be – making the street dark, difficult to walk down and creating many blind spots behind the thick shrubs. So after a community consultation, young people from the local New Deal for Communities team carried out the manual work to remove the bushes, clearing the area and preparing the street for new planting.

On 25th November 2002, the second phase of the project was delivered. Local children from Seymour Park Primary school helped local residents, councillors and businesses owners to plant 14 Silver Birch trees and thousands of bulbs along both sides of the road and witness the installation of a further 14 impressive ‘standing stones’ – a unique environmental art work that was approved by the local community. The planting event was visited by Tony McNulty MP, then Minister for Regeneration who expressed his support for the scheme as an expression of a progressive and sustainable approach to urban regeneration.

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‘Trees for Cities’
Red Rose Forest goes global!

Red Rose Forest and the Green Streets project has recently linked up with the international charity Trees for Cities, to plant even more trees within the urban areas of Greater Manchester and help tackle the many environmental issues that city living raises.

‘Trees for Cities’ will be working in 20 cities around the world – but it has selected Manchester to be one of the very first to benefit from its work. Other cities that will be involved in the first phase of this global greening project are Madrid (Spain), Bucharest (Romania) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).

Trees for Cities will demonstrate the power of urban trees to improve air quality and living conditions within busy a conurbation. Trees absorb the carbon and other pollutants generated within cities (just 322 city trees recently surveyed in New York took 145 tonnes of pollutants out of the air). Trees improve air quality in cities as they remove many of the pollution particles that aggravate asthma and other respiratory diseases. Trees also play a vital role in the urban ecosystem by supporting a wide variety of wildlife from birds to beetles. Trees can help even noise pollution as every 30 metres of woodland belt reduces noise pollution by 6-8 decibels. Whilst studies have shown that house prices in tree-lined streets can be up to 18% higher. And then there is the effect that trees have on our psyche, reducing the stresses of urban living.

Trees for Manchester - as the Manchester arm of the project is called - has also committed to involve local communities, schools and the City Council in it’s work, making sure that every tree that is planted is respected and cared for in the long term.

On Wednesday 14th April 2004 the partnership between Red Rose Forest and Trees for Cities was launched, with a fabulous street tree plant in a Rusholme – where 31 large Pear trees were planted with lots of help from local people and Manchester City Council. On the same day, projects were launched in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Madrid in Spain, Bucharest in Romania as well as in London - symbolising the unified approached of the project to green the cities of the world.

Said Faith Ashworth, Marketing Manager at Red Rose Forest:

Manchester is a thriving, ever-growing city, which relies on the ‘green lungs’ of its trees and greenery to keep it healthy and attractive. Red Rose Forest is thrilled to be working with Trees for Cities in Manchester, to inspire and encourage thousands of Mancunians to see the value of their city’s trees and to create fresh, organic spaces within a busy, industrial city, for the benefit of all.

Said Graham Simmonds, Chief Executive for Trees for Cities:

The onset of global warming is the most serious issue facing today’s generation. Our experience in London over the last 10 years has taught us that people and companies want to do something real and tangible for the environment and our aim now as Trees for Cities is to harness this enthusiasm and generate a greening renaissance in cities around the world”.

For more information about the Trees for Cities project or Trees for Manchester in particular, please click here to email Pete Stringer, the Green Streets manager or have a look at the Trees for cities website – www.treesforcities.org