New data published today [23 September] by Fields in Trust, the UK charity that has protected Britain’s parks, playgrounds, playing fields and green spaces for over a century, reveals a paradox at the heart of Greater Manchester’s green space.

According to this year’s Green Space Index, the most comprehensive independent assessment of green space provision in Great Britain, 97% of Greater Manchester residents live within a ten-minute walk of a green space, one of the best rates in Britain. Yet only 8% live within a ten-minute walk of one that is permanently protected, meaning almost
everything residents can reach today could be lost to development tomorrow.

The Index findings reveal the scale of the gap locally:
Only 3% of Greater Manchester residents live beyond a ten-minute walk of a public recreational space, well ahead of the England average (8%) and the North West average (6%)
Yet just 8% of residents live within a ten-minute walk of a permanently protected green space, against 14% across the North West and 13% across England
In Manchester city centre itself, that figure falls to just 4%, and in Stockport to under 1%
Green space provision across Greater Manchester stands at 26 sqm per person, below both the North West average (30 sqm) and the England average (32 sqm)

Field In Trust provides the UK’s only proven legal model to safeguard parks, playgrounds and green spaces forever. With over 3,000 spaces already protected, the organisation defends public land from being lost to development. Across communities, green spaces provide vital places for play, exercise, relaxation, and social connection.

The Green Space Index shows that access is not the same as how secure those locations are. Greater Manchester’s parks and green spaces are used and valued, accessible from almost every home in the city region but, without legal protection, any one of them could be sold, built on or lost the next time a council needs to balance its budget or a developer needs land.

The risk is not evenly spread. Manchester city centre and Stockport, two of the city region’s most built-up areas, have among the lowest rates of public recreation space protection anywhere in Britain with just 4% and under 1% of their populations respectively living within reach of a protected space.

Fields in Trust warns that without urgent action, the areas with the least room to spare could also end up with the least protection.

Locally, Trafford shows what’s possible when a council acts. William Wroe Meadow in Flixton, a former golf course, was legally protected by Trafford Council in January 2024 and is now being transformed into a community asset, with a newly planted orchard, more than 30 new fruit trees, and plans for wetland and wet woodland restoration under way. A new Friends of William Wroe Meadow group is being established to give local people a lasting role in caring for the site.

Stephen Harper, member of Flixton Green For All, said: “For us, one of the most important things about the Fields in Trust protection is that it has given William Wroe Meadow a secure foundation for the future. There has always been enormous local affection for this green space, but knowing it’s protected for future generations gives us the confidence to look beyond simply safeguarding it, and towards how the community can get more involved in caring for and enhancing it.

“One of our first projects is restoring the site’s old orchard, which formed part of the farmland here long before it became a golf course – some of the original fruit trees are believed to date back to the mid-nineteenth century. With support from The Orchard Project and local volunteers, more than 30 new fruit trees have now been planted there. For us, that mix of long-term protection, local history and growing community involvement is what the William Wroe Meadow story is really about. Fields in Trust protection has helped provide the security from which that next chapter can develop.”

Fields in Trust wants to see the same ambition shown in Trafford applied right across Greater Manchester. The charity is calling for its Deed of Dedication to be adopted for green spaces across the city region’s ten boroughs, ensuring they cannot be lost regardless of future changes in planning policy or pressure on land for new housing. It also wants its Standards, the most widely used national benchmarks for green space provision, mandated in local plans, so that every new community is built with the right quantity, quality and accessibility of green space. Its Standards are already referenced in the UK Government’s recently updated National Planning Policy Framework but Fields in Trust argues this does not go far enough.

As the UK Government pushes to build 1.5 million new homes, and with Greater Manchester at the heart of its growth and housing agenda, Fields in Trust says green space must be treated as essential infrastructure from the outset, not an afterthought.

Helen Griffiths, Chief Executive of Fields in Trust, said: “Greater Manchester shows just how fragile access to green space really is. Almost everyone here can reach a park or green space within ten minutes but, without legal protection, that access means very little. Any one of these spaces could be sold, built on or lost, and in areas like Manchester city centre and Stockport, that risk is more real than almost anywhere else in Britain.

“Trafford shows what the alternative looks like. William Wroe Meadow is protected forever, and the community is already building its future around that certainty. We want every part of Greater Manchester to be able to say the same about its green spaces.”

This release is one of eight regional findings being published from this year’s Green Space Index, spotlighting how access to protected, everyday green space varies across Great Britain. The eight areas include Harlech in North Wales, Wrexham in North Wales, Liverpool, Greater Manchester, South Derbyshire, Yorkshire and the Humber, Tower Hamlets in London, and Horsham in West Sussex.