CEM publishes first Greater Manchester report

Climate Emergency Manchester has largely reported on central MCR to date. We have written multiple dispatches from the Town Hall. This is set to change. Over the coming months, we will sustain this work but also look out to all 32 wards of the city. We will compare Manchester’s efforts to those of other Core Cities. And today we publish our first summary of action by the other nine local authorities of Greater Manchester. Read it in Microsoft Word or PDF.

All ten GM councils, as well as the Combined Authority, have now declared a climate emergency. But our key finding is that action plans are, in many cases, behind schedule. Moreover, the process of drawing up these plans is often being carried out  ‘behind closed doors’. Few dates and timelines are provided for the appearance of the final strategies. Citizens across the region remain unclear what is being done.

Although we eschewed a league table approach on this occasion, we include a more informal ‘best in class’ and ‘bottom of class’ section. There are pockets of good practice, but no one council is leading the way. We found interesting initiatives afoot in Wigan, Rochdale and Oldham. Stockport and Salford seemed to take an early lead, being among first to declare an emergency and able to build on previous work. However, both now appear to punch below their weight. Bury is showing delayed signs of progress, partly in response to local activist pressure. Bolton, Trafford and Tameside lag behind.

This is very much version 1.0, a first pass. Our team of researchers drawn from across Greater Manchester surveyed publicly available information. Future work will drill down further. The report could not have been completed without this team of eagled-eye residents. Whether you live in Sale or Standish, Littleborough or Leigh, we would love for you to join us for future GM research. Get in touch.

1 thought on “CEM publishes first Greater Manchester report”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.