Manchester

The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Manchester. It's an introduction to local networks, groups, and events.

• Community resources Manchester is a separate page.

News

Networks and sustainability initiatives

• Lighthouse Project, drop-in style community hub open to all, aiming to provide a safe and welcoming environment where people can get help and support, meet together, and access a range of opportunities that are caring, social, or educational. Part of Inspire Middleton. added 10:52, 13 July 2025 (UTC)
• Springfield, Beech Hill & Gidlow Community, (Wigan) — mutual aid group formed by neighbours. "Bringing the community together to create a great place to live, work and play", added 13:14, 20 October 2022 (UTC)
• Wigan CAN on twitter, Citizens & Neighbours of Wigan, Members of Neighbourhood Democracy Movement
• Action for Sustainable Living
• Envirolution UK, community cooperative based in Greater Manchester which aims to create a catalyst for environmental & social change

Manchester video

UK and international events

UK events

UK community action events

Global or international events

2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events

Community involvement

People's Plan, an independent public engagement programme, by and for citizens and civil society of Greater Manchester

Community and voluntary action

• Manchester Community Central, added 14:22, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

Climate action

Climate emergency declared in 2019. Manchester aiming to be a zero-carbon city by 2038.

• Climate change action, information from Preston City Council, preston.gov.uk, added 11:02, 9 September 2022 (UTC)
• Zero Carbon Manchester, Manchester City Council, History of Climate Change in Manchester, Manchester City Council
• Manchester Climate Change

Climate change solutions

People Powered Retrofit, retrofit.coop, not-for-profit service for householders in Greater Manchester, offering clear, independent advice. added 12:36, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

Ethical consumerism

The Dispensary, Salford, thedispensarysalford.com, zero waste shop & community hub also selling fresh fruit and veg. added 08:44, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

Cycling activism

Love Your Bike campaign based in Greater Manchester, co-ordinated by Manchester Friends of the Earth

Blogs

Mad Cycle Lanes of Manchester

Environment quality

• Mersey Rivers Trust, added 14:25, 28 April 2021 (UTC)

Open spaces

Manchester has six designated Local Nature Reserves which are Chorlton Water Park (Wikipedia), Blackley Forest, Clayton Vale and Chorlton Ees, Ivy Green, Boggart Hole Clough (Wikipedia) and Highfield Country Park (Wikipedia).

Trees, woodland and forest

City of Trees, movement to re-invigorate Greater Manchester's landscape by transforming underused, unloved woodland and planting a tree for every man, woman and child who lives there, within a generation

Red Rose Forest, community forest in western and central Greater Manchester, England. It was founded in 1991 and is expected to take 40 years to develop and mature, with the aim of involving communities in safeguarding and creating a woodland flora for the future, and helping preserve the fast disappearing flora of British woodlands. The population within the Forest boundary amounts to 1.5 million, making it the largest urban community forest in the United Kingdom.

The main aim is to get greenery where people can appreciate it every day. This includes street trees, green roofs and green spaces. Red Rose Forest's Green Streets team works with local communities on unique and innovative greening projects to improve the quality of life for urban communities. The value of greening as a means of tackling a range of social, health and economic issues is huge. Red Rose Forest offers many ways for the people to get involved in their environment including the general public through their Friends of the Forest scheme, businesses through sponsorship and communities through the Green Streets project.

About Greater Manchester

From Wikipedia:Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, West Yorkshire and Derbyshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester.

The county has an area of 1,276 km² (493 sq mi) and is highly urbanised, with a population of 3,009,664 in 2024. Manchester is located in the centre of the county, with the city of Salford immediately adjacent to the west. Other large settlements include Rochdale in the north-east, Stockport in the south-east, Sale in the south-west, Wigan in the far north-west, and Bolton in the north-west. The majority of the county's settlements are part of the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, which extends into Cheshire and Merseyside and is the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. For local government purposes the county comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. The borough councils collaborate through the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The county was created on 1 April 1974 from parts of north-east Cheshire, south-east Lancashire, and a small part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The centre and south-west of Greater Manchester are lowlands, similar to the West Lancashire Coastal Plain to the north-west and the Cheshire Plain to the south-west. The north and east are part of the Pennines: the West Pennine Moors in the northwest, the South Pennines in the northeast and the Peak District in the east. Most of the county's rivers rise in the Pennines and are tributaries of the Mersey and Irwell, the latter of which is itself a tributary of the Mersey. The county is connected to the Mersey Estuary by the Manchester Ship Canal, which for its entire length within Greater Manchester consists of canalised sections of the Mersey and Irwell.