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Contact

For more information please contact Hilary Wood at Red Rose Forest
hilary@redroseforest.co.uk

Images
Click here for fly throughs of the Newlands sites and the project picture gallery
Fingertip Facts
View facts about Nutsford Vale
Size:
40 acres (16 hectares)
Investment:
Funding received £288,500 over the two years April 2009 – Mar 2011. (Plus a £27,300 "maintenance dowry" for the site for the subsequent five years). Match funding including approx £60k eWGS funding from the Forestry Commission, over £50k from MCC, and over £86k Lottery funding from a successful Access to Nature bid.
Partners:
Manchester City Council, New East Manchester, Groundwork, Friends of Nutsford Vale, Urban Progress
Status:
Complete

  1. Past

    Nutsford Vale is a former clay quarry, known as Jackson's Clay Pit, in Gorton, south-east Manchester, which closed in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, the large hole left by the clay quarry was landfilled and became Matthews Lane Tip, before being capped and made safe.

    Over time, the site had become neglected and underused with no formal identity. Used heavily as a cut-through to local schools and shops, local residents felt the site was unsafe due to unsecured boundaries and a history of anti-social behaviour. There has also been evidence of fly-tipping and motorbike use.

  2. Present

    Following funding from the Newlands programme, Matthews Lane Tip has been transformed into Nutsford Vale, a much-needed green space for the local community. New high quality access points were designed to create a welcoming feel, with improved sight lines along a well maintained network of paths, along with seating and bins.

    Interpretation is being delivered through ongoing dialogue with the communities that use the site, including local schools. Sensitive habitat management has begun, including woodland management and the removal of Japanese knotweed. Support through local councillors has helped to fund some of the initial groundwork needed to allow access works to begin.

  3. Future

    The project led to a great deal of community involvement and fund raising by the local friends group, the Nutsford Vale Park Project, which continues to work for the site's development.

    The project has evolved into a strong partnership with the local authority that owns and manages the land. This will ensure the site has long-term maintenance and management to support the ongoing community engagement.

  4. Regeneration

    Nutsford Vale is in Gorton South, one of the most deprived wards of the country where crime and anti-social behaviour is a particular concern. The local high-density housing stock is in decline and is subject to a range of environmental and streetscape regeneration initiatives, such as housing makeovers and alleyway gating.

    Urban Progress, an organisation that employs and trains ex-offenders, was contracted to carry out work on the site, tackling local worklessness in the course of creating the site. This new community woodland will provide a much-needed safe and attractive open space for the community.