trafford eco-street parklet

A competition from an environmental community charity is encouraging the people of Greater Manchester to create more green spaces🌳.

Groundwork launched the eco-street project and will pick two ‘un-used, un-loved’ areas and give the winners £6,000 funding and support to transform a local space how they see fit.

Michaela Howell, Head of Communities at Groundwork Greater Manchester, laid out the benefits of installing these ‘parklets’.

groundwork eco-street competition
Image provided and permission given by Groundwork Greater Manchester

She said: “At a time when we have struggled to connect with others as we would like, they are at their most valuable.

“The health and wellbeing benefits not only include reducing how isolated we feel, they can help with cleaning our air and our sense of general wellbeing.”

The Ignition Project reported that poor mental health can be reduced by around 50% when people exercise in a green space or parklet.

There is currently only one parklet in Salford, at the Eagle Inn Pub on Collier Street, but Groundwork want to see more of them.

Amy Wright, 28, is the Community Project Lead at Groundwork Greater Manchester, and she elaborated on what the competition aims to do and how it works.

She said: “By registering an interest people will receive nature based solutions from us to get an idea of what the project is aiming to do.

“Project propositions are open until the end of March, so hopefully people who’ve learnt a bit more about how we can impact on climate change in our local areas can then be able to apply at the end of the month.

“We want to empower communities to build more climate resilient spaces that matter to them. Co-designing with communities to see what they want in their area through small scale community projects.”

Prospective groups for the eco-street competition need to consist of at least 3 people from different households and have an area in mind, from alleys to small unused spaces.

Initial applications end on March 31st.

You can apply and find out more here.

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