CyanLines celebrates one year with announcements on Phase Two

CyanLines returned to Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, this evening to celebrate its first anniversary with two major announcements: a significant charitable grant from the Bupa Foundation to the National Trust towards Phase Two of Castlefield Viaduct and plans for a new CyanLines route, CL5, which will significantly improve the experience of walking and wheeling to the Etihad Stadium and Co-op Live Arena from the City Centre through a series practical and nature led interventions.

Mayor of Greater Manchester and co-chair of CyanLines Bev Craig said: “We’re on a mission to connect our green spaces with nature across Greater Manchester.

“The ambition of CyanLines to join up our green spaces, rivers and canals is a key part of our vision to create a greener, healthier and better-connected city region. It shows what we can achieve when communities, businesses and the public and voluntary sectors come together with a shared purpose.

Phase Two of Castlefield Viaduct

National Trust is a CyanLines founding partner, supporting the development of the green and blue network to be as nature rich, accessible and inclusive as possible. Castlefield Viaduct, led by National Trust, is a signature project in the CyanLines network.

The transformation of the once-disused Victorian railway into an urban sky park leads the way in breathing new life into the city; creating an incredible space for people to explore, communities to gather, and for nature to thrive in urban spaces once more. Phase Two is the next step in enabling the 1km sky park and active travel route across the city.

The majority of the funding for the next ambitious phase of Castlefield Viaduct is secured. The National Trust is seeking a final £1.6 million in investment for it to be delivered.

Pete Bradshaw, Director of Sustainability, Manchester City Football Club said: “The plans for the CyanLines route add a new layer of nature rich, innovative and imaginative active travel and community experiences for fans, visitors and those living and working in the neighbourhood. Improving local ecology, biodiversity gain and creating environmental uplifts that have a positive impact across the community, supporting improved air quality and wellbeing.

“This builds on over a decade of environmental improvements the club has made in east Manchester, returning former industrial lands to green and blue spaces and through its sustainability agenda (Game Plan), the biodiversity programme’ Mancgroves,’ continues to expand and provide new wetlands, wildflower and wild grass meadows and rain gardens and wetlands that help prevent local flooding – all engaging our schools, communities.”

The Etihad Stadium recently expanded capacity to just over 60,000 with the opening of its new Pep Guardiola stand. It’s set to expand further with the upcoming Medlock Square which will feature a covered fan park for around 6,000 people meaning matchdays and tournament fixtures will routinely draw tens of thousands of visitors to the campus in concentrated time windows. The Co-op Live Arena is projected to host around seven million visits per year, and Medlock Square’s new offerings – including the 600-capacity Mamma Mia: The Party venue, a 3,000-capacity event space, a major new hotel, and series of cuisine offerings – all will further intensify footfall in the area.

The CL5 route begins at Piccadilly station and follows the Ashton Canal through New Islington and Holt Town to the Etihad Campus including Co-op Live Arena, then it loops back towards the city centre joining the existing CityLink before heading through Medlock Valley to Mayfield then back to Piccadilly station.

Mayor of Greater Manchester and co-chair of CyanLines Bev Craig said: “The new route between Piccadilly and the Etihad Campus is a really exciting next step. By making it easier to walk and wheel, removing barriers and bringing more trees, wildlife and welcoming public spaces along the way, CyanLines is turning that vision into reality.”

CyanLines is the nature-powered partnership project aiming to connect blue and green spaces into a high quality network of walking, wheeling and cycling routes for residents, for visitors and for nature.

The long term vision is to develop a network of hundreds of miles of CyanLines routes over ten years, starting with the city centres of Manchester and Salford and then stretching out across Greater Manchester to deliver a greener, healthier and more climate-resilient city for the future.

Tom Bloxham CBE, co-chair, CyanLines said: “The enormous progress made in our first year, from a standing start and a simple idea, reflects the huge amount of support, collaboration and cooperation we have received from across communities, residents, businesses, charities and politicians to turn our ambitious vision into reality. If you ever wanted an example of “Manchesterism” Surely this, is it – an entrepreneurial coalition of local politicians, business people and community volunteers getting stuff done at a pace .

“We still have a very long way to go but each year we’ll report back on our progress as we hope to engage more and more people to bring green and blue nature and walkways into the heart of our City”

Here’s a summary of CyanLines year one activity, progress and achievements:

CyanLines routes

· 100 mile network target – currently at circa 30 miles of routes identified and in development.

· Launched with x4 CyanLines pilot routes:

· CL1: Victoria Station & NOMA to Queens Park – The Irk Valley explorer (approx. 4km/2.5 miles)

· CL2: Mayfield, New Islington & Ancoats Loop – From marina to new city park (approx. 6.3km/3.9 miles)

· CL3: St Peter’s Square to Whitworth Park – Walking the knowledge corridor (approx. 4.6km/2.8 miles)

· CL4: Irwell & Castlefield Loop – Romans, rivers and a park in the sky (approx. 8km/5miles) · The four routes are available here

· All four routes have been audited for accessibility and CyanLines is bidding for funds for necessary improvements.

· The four routes have been assessed for sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) and CyanLines is working with United Utilities to develop a project to install nature based solutions on the routes.

· There are two grassroots routes in development that have been created by local communities in Newton Heath and Rusholme.

Other CyanLines projects

· A technical feasibility study via Civic was commissioned for a floating walkway on the Irwell in the city centre.

· Working with the Medlock Valley Partnership to deliver greater access to the River in the city centre.

· Working with the Canal and River Trust on a major pitch to reinvent Piccadilly Basin.

· And the Deansgate Tree project – From 4 September, a 90 metre section of Deansgate (outside the Great Northern) became temporary home to 12 sweet gum trees, hexagonal beehive shaped planters, featuring recycled velodrome track and two brightly coloured Bike Ports. The project is a collaboration with Manchester City Council, City of Trees, CityCo and Great Northern who have worked with CyanLines to bring the trees to Deansgate to help show residents, visitors and business owners the difference the trees and plants will make to the space and they hope to encourage people to think about other possibilities to bring more nature on to our city streets.

CyanLines Partnerships

· Grown to 24 private and public sector funding partners (see notes to editors 02 for full list) plus over 80 strategic partners engaged as delivery partners. · Established a partnership board. Full details: here.

· Establishing a CIC as core organising base. · Key part of a Manchester-Salford programme called Nature Towns and Cities. More here

· Partnered with the Norman Foster Institute for Sustainable Cities who are working on design concepts for improvements to the CyanLines routes. Hear from the students and their research programme, GMCA and Steve Connor from CyanLines this short film.

Engagement

· Over 1,000 people have joined in CyanLines public walks, workshops, and events over the past twelve months.

· Staged a series of volunteering days focused on canal clean ups with Canal & Rivers Trust.

· A corporate and public volunteering programme has been developed and launches next month.