Connecting People With Rivers & Greenspace in Manchester
Background
Groundwork and The Mersey Rivers Trust have been engaging with local people along the River Irk since 2019. The goal has been to understand local peoples desires for the space and to bring together like-minded people who care about the River Irk, it’s environment, heritage and neighbouring communities. We also wanted to help diversify river users, introducing those who hadn’t had much access to their local green space.
Engaging a wide range of people
In the past five years we’ve engaged with over 700 local people!
We’ve worked in partnership with 7 local schools and a variety of local organisations such as Manchester Youthzone, Number 93, St Georges Community Centre and Manchester Young Lives to ensure that a diverse range of voices have been heard.
How we engaged people with the river
Outreach
As well as door knocking, flyering and reaching people through targeted social media adverts, we’ve attended local community centres, schools and other networks to ensure we reach everyone possible.
Events
We’ve hosted a number of events from family fun days, nature walks and poetry workshops. All of our events are designed to encourage people to visit the River Irk and share their thoughts and ideas on what can be done to enhance the space.
Community action
Once aware of the communities needs, we’ve supported local people to take action on issues that matter to them. We’ve helped coordinate litter picking sessions and provided training so that volunteers can effectively manage invasive species.
What people told us
Our team collected thoughts and ideas on what was great about Lower Crumpsall Recreation Grounds & Harphurhey Ponds, and what could be better. Views were collected in a variety of methods, including questionnaires, graphical ideas (as pictured) and through 1-2-1 conversations.
The community consultation highlighted that people enjoyed the following about the area:
- It’s a great place to view nature
- A good open space for sport
It also raised a number of ways the space could be enhanced, including:
- More benches so there was a reason to visit
- Something put in place to address flooding and muddy paths
- More information about the nature that lived there
- Additional sports features and bins
- Features for young children (as many local people have to travel by car for this currently)
What’s next?
From our engagement over the past five years, we are now supporting a group of around 8 local volunteers who aspire to implement some of the ideas raised through the Love Your River Irk programme to date.
We’re currently in the process of securing funding for the improvement of Lower Crumpsall Recreation Grounds, helping to enhance the green space and surrounding wetlands for both local people and nature.
Our team will continue to listen to residents and develop their ideas so that ideas can become a reality, co-designing a space where more people can connect with the nature on their doorstep and ensuring that Crumpsall is an area resilient and responsive to a changing climate.
