Resin Bound Surfacing: It is time for a green revolution in Greater Manchester that favours people, not vehicles

While a third of the city region’s households are not car owners, 95% of highway emissions are from cars

This week I spoke at Andy Burnham’s first Green Summit, part of his commitment to make Greater Manchester one of Europe’s leading green cities.

There was a huge amount of positive energy in the room as we were inspired by environmental leaders around the city on what we can do to transform transport, energy, housing, food and education. Spontaneous applause erupted in the room when Andy announced he would spend £50 million a year on walking and cycling for the next three years, the first stage of the £1.5 billion pledge for active travel.

He said Manchester is world famous as the home of the industrial revolution, but the price for this focus on production and development was the loss of green space, clean air, and sustainable living. Like many big cities Greater Manchester’s obsession with growth and development has gone hand in hand with the rise of the car and infrastructure to serve that.

While a third of the city region’s households are not car owners, 95% of highway emissions are from cars. One third of all journeys under 1km are made by car, just a 15 minute walk or a five minute cycle, but many of our streets are just not attractive or safe for people to get on a bike or even walk.

We now need a new green revolution for the 21st century. In my talk I argued that we need a radical reallocation of road space in favour of people rather than vehicles. That means a new network of high quality cycling and walking routes, which allows people to commute easily into the city from all areas in the region.

As Stockport Council’s Leader Alex Ganotis said at the Green Summit green issues should no longer be an after-thought, but central to everything we do. There were murmurs of agreement around the room as delegates agreed that 2050 was too long to wait for the city region to be carbon neutral.

The challenge now is to keep the positive energy and ideas generated at the conference going and convert ideas into reality. Andy is planning another Green Summit next year, and as Pete Abel from Friends of the Earth told him: Thanks for the £50 million a year, but we will be reminding you about the rest of the £1.5million!