CEM’s summer highlight reel: stories you might have missed

At the start of a new school year, we recap the key local stories CEM covered over the summer. This ‘top five’ was compiled by volunteer Anna Almasan, who also provides the commentary on why these developments matter for climate and environmental policy in Manchester.

Concerns raised for Manchester’s green spaces in ‘Places for Everyone’ proposals

Earlier in the summer, Councillors raised concern over how the controversial ‘Places for Everyone’ development proposal may damage green belt areas surrounding Greater Manchester.

Places for Everyone is a long-term plan involving nine Greater Manchester districts, with the goal of developing new homes, jobs, and sustainable growth.  Sounds great, right? 

Not really. Councillors are worried as the limited greenspaces in the city continue to be threatened by environmentally short-sighted development plans. 

Will politicians do anything to alleviate concerns? Probably not; in spite of the long-lasting effects, Places for Everyone will have on Manchester, the master plan is unlikely to change without strong opposition from the public.

10 questions for Manchester’s Community Assembly on Climate Change

Manchester’s Community Assembly on Climate Change started on the 9th of August and will be running until the 26th of September.  Residents of areas throughout Manchester gather to discuss the issues climate change presents, and how to solve them on a local level; we ask ourselves how this assembly will differ from others; if and how it will cause substantial policy change.

Manchester City Council NOT doing any work on cumulative impacts of air pollution on citizens. Of course it isn’t.

See the actions (or lack thereof) Manchester City Council has taken to ensure that Mancunians are protected from the impacts of air pollution. In this article, CEM looked at the lack of action Manchester City Council has taken to regulate the environmental impacts of development and construction. The failure to provide data on the carbon emissions of development means that councillors aren’t able to make informed decisions on the topic.

 What progress at Environment and Climate Scrutiny Committee? Imagine a swan, gliding upside down in water

We are working towards a net-zero  Manchester by 2038, but can we do that with the lack of transparency from local politicians? Councillors and advocacy groups keep putting pressure on local and national governments in order to push for the urgent policy changes that are needed. Unfortunately, there is a lack of transparency and data for that change to happen at the necessary rate as the meeting covered in this blog revealed.

Bury takes huge risk with carbon offsetting proposals

CEM usually focuses on the in/action of Manchester City Council however, we had a look at Bury council who proposed carbon offsetting as a viable solution to reach net zero. So is it a solution?

No, carbon off-setting doesn’t reduce carbon emissions and makes many complacent.

Carbon off-setting has been used repeatedly as a cop-out for governments and companies, and it has become an excuse to slow climate action.

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