Greater Manchester chosen as green pioneer for the urban environment

Date published: 11 January 2018


Greater Manchester is one of four UK settings chosen to “pioneer” new ways of working in order to better protect and enhance our natural environment.

As part of the Government’s 25-year environment plan launched today, Greater Manchester has been announced as the UK’s ‘Urban Pioneer City Region’, bolstering the region’s green credentials and providing a significant boost to its ambition to become the greenest city region in the UK.

The Government’s department for the environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) has developed an ambitious 25-year environment plan that will help to shape their long-term approach for the UK’s natural environment.

As part of the plan, Defra has established pioneer project areas in four distinct national locations and settings to trial and test new ways of working that benefit the local environments. The settings are a river catchment (Lancashire and Cumbria), an urban area (Greater Manchester), landscape (Devon), and marine (east and west coastal locations).

The ideas that are developed as part of these projects can be used in other parts of the country to help everyone make better decisions to protect and improve the environment.

The Green Summit, called for by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, takes place on 21 March 2018. Following a consultation phase, it will bring together environmental experts, interest groups, partner agencies, academics and local people together to establish a ‘green charter’, accelerate Greater Manchester’s green ambitions, and explore the earliest possible milestones for achieving carbon neutrality.