Changes to the Urban Environment

Hi all,

As usual Manchester City Council seems to have totally ignored a genuine democratic approach by saying:
"We know what's best for you and we will decide what you will get".
This is simply an autocratic if not patronising approach masquerading as a willingness to consult but a neglect to manage or design a new landscape of trees for a modern environment.
Or even being prepared to ask such a question!
Clearly, not everyone is an expert on these matters and I wonder whether the Council would have prepared such a plan if it had known what residents in the Whalley Range Community know about tree management.

But this is more than a matter for a small band of experts to decide. So far no one has mentioned the impact on the urban environment the council's plans will have or what type of new landscape would best be defined or designed by the proposed new under-planting and its relevance to our modern lifestyles. The identity of Whalley Range will be changed significantly by the current plans – so what will this new landscape be saying to its residents and visitors?
When the majority of trees were planted in Whalley Range there was a definite plan or idea agreed by the philanthropists of the time on the choice of tree species, their location and their number. This is clearly a feature of the parks and gardens located here. Indeed some of the older trees are in themselves landmark species and some serious consideration should be given to their future management or removal. My greatest fear is that after the Council's Chainsaw Cowboys have finished that the urban landscape will look like a patch-work quilt of greenery that says nothing or does nothing in particular.

When most of the trees were planted in this district Manchester and its environs were heavily polluted and therefore limes, poplars, horse chestnut as well as several other interesting specimens were planted to cope with the excessive pollution caused by the industrial malaise. There were only a few trams and horse-drawn carriages not loads of cars here so the question of sap of limes did not even enter the equation.
A new theme or cultural landscape should be determined either democratically or by several experts working alongside the community along with a pragmatic plan to ensure everyone is consulted or adequately informed on best practice.

Dear Green Man,

In your post you state that,”…there was a definite plan or idea agreed by the philanthropists of the time on the choice of tree species, their location and their number. This is clearly a feature of the parks and gardens located here” How do you know this? If you have access to this plan, can you either please share it with us or point us in the right direction so we can study it and learn from it. Surely, it was the City Council who designed the parks and laid out the street trees back in the 1860’s?

You also mention the pollution of the past. Wasn’t it the relative lack of pollution in the South of the City (in comparison to the north of Manchester and the other towns to the North and West of Greater Manchester) is what allowed Alexandra Park and Whalley Range to have a much greater variety of trees than the more polluted areas? Isn’t this why all these big houses and gardens with their big trees are in Whalley Range and not in Blackley or Newton Heath? However, most of this pollution is now a thing of the past and surely, we can look forward to a much wider range of the more interesting tree species you mention being planted in the future, as the older trees (at some point) will inevitably have to be removed. They could only plant a very limited ranges of species to survive in those conditions, whereas we can look forward to a much more interesting arboreal landscape.

If the City Council is prepared to carry on spending more of the Council Tax Payer’s money on keeping the well treed, affluent wards of the City’s trees in good condition, then what is wrong with this? The residents of the poorer areas would not appreciate trees if they had them, would they?

You are surely correct in saying that we cannot stay where we are. The existing trees cannot live forever and we must learn from both the mistakes and the benefits of the great Victorian tree planting effort and plan for the future.