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Newlands   

What is Newlands?

Launched in the summer of 2003, Newlands is a unique £59 million scheme that is reclaiming large areas of brownfield land across England’s Northwest; responding to local and regional economic and social needs by transforming sites into thriving, durable, community woodlands.

Newlands is supported by the Northwest Regional Development Agency and coordinated by the Forestry Commission, with support from local authority partners, Groundwork, Red Rose Forest, The Mersey Forest and Pennine Edge Forest and other partners and local communities.  

Newlands is about new life and new environments. It will, in the years ahead, deliver new recreational areas, benefits for business, a boost to healthy living and a significant increase in the woodland cover of England’s Northwest.

How is Newlands funded?

In 2003, NWDA committed £23 million to the first phase of Newlands; to transform over 400 hectares of brownfield land across the Mersey Belt area of the region, targeting sites in Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Salford, Trafford and Wigan in the Red Rose Forest area as well as Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, Ellesmere Port and Neston, Halton, Vale Royal, and Warrington.

In May 2007, NWDA and the Forestry Commission re-affirmed their partnership, with the commitment of a further £36 million to extend the scheme across the whole Northwest region.

This takes the total NWDA investment into Newlands to over £59 million – creating a scheme that will have unprecedented impact across the region.

Where is Newlands working?

The first phase of Newlands is already delivering across a number of sites in the Mersey Belt. In the Red Rose Forest area this includes Moston Vale in North Manchester and Lower Irwell Valley Improvement Area in North Salford and parts of Prestwich and Bury.

How are sites selected?

Following a comprehensive survey of brownfield land across the Mersey Belt
area, a number of potential sites were identified as prime targets for regeneration. These were assessed using the Public Benefit Recording System (PBRS) and Additional Value Assessments (AVAs) to ensure that investment is allocated, and community woodlands created, according to the greatest economic, social and environmental need and that the functionality of each site can be considered.

Moston Vale

The 21-hectare Moston Vale project in North Manchester has been transformed into a new ‘urban countryside’ – significantly contributing to the Manchester City Region plan to create better living environments with an enhanced economic value. A former domestic landfill and most recently blighted by anti-social behaviour, Moston Vale is now a significant contributor to the area’s economic regeneration — at the heart of North Manchester’s Housing Market Renewal Area, within an area in the top 5% of the national Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) and next to the regional economic hub of Central Park Business Park. Through Newlands, Moston Vale is now a quality setting for investment, with economic inclusion projects also critical to its future management. High quality new access, sports and recreation facilities are also serving local communities and improving their physical environment.

Lower Irwell Valley Improvement Area

Work has started on the Lower Irwell Valley Improvement Area (LIVIA) in North Salford and parts of Prestwich and Bury. By uniting a series of smaller development projects and creating one cohesive, well maintained parkland, Newlands at LIVIA is creating a green corridor for Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company and improving the appearance of this key gateway site. The LIVIA project will also encourage businesses to locate at the nearby Agecroft Commerce Park and Clifton Industrial Estate, as well as contributing to the creation of the Croal Irwell Valley Regional Park. For an area that is within in the top 10% of national deprivation, Newlands regeneration is set to attract investment to the area and the physical improvements will significantly benefit the New Deal for Communities areas of Charlestown and Lower Kersal as well as the adjacent wards of Pendleton and St. Mary’s.

Newlands success

Newlands is the 21st Century face of land regeneration: carefully planned; intelligence-led; delivering widespread public benefits; enhancing the environment; and delivered through partnerships. Newlands will improve the quality of life for millions of people, delivering new open spaces and natural areas for increased community enjoyment, tourism and recreation.

Newlands is about more than trees and people: it will benefit the region economically and will trigger new opportunities for businesses. It delivers against a wide range of policy objectives – beyond the purely environmental - from brownfield land regeneration to health, from business growth to biodiversity.

Newlands is now fully established as an exemplar of brownfield land regeneration and a key initiative for tackling the environmental deficit in the Northwest. It is rapidly becoming one of the top regeneration schemes in the UK, and the foremost of these programmes to use forestry as the basis for change.

The work carried out so far and planned for the coming months will continue to make an impact on the ground and the expansion of Newlands across the whole of the Northwest creates an unprecedented opportunity to deliver dramatic change within the region.

More information

For more information on the Newlands Initiative please visit www.forestry.gov.uk/newlands