Back in June 2017 BOLD contacted the recently elected mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham on the subject of the environment.

We chose the mayor with the following explanation we sent to him:

‘Looking at your remit these topics may not be specifically in your brief but as you will chair the GMCA Cabinet these will be of concern to the Council Leaders so it is hoped you can provide guidance to them as chair. Many of the problems would be tackled best with joined up thinking and co-operation between the authorities.’

3 members (one a member of Mersey Basin Rivers Trust) and an associate (chair of Friends of Wince Brook a local beauty spot) met to compile an extensive report. This was researched and discussed within the BOLD group.

The issues covered were 1) Air Pollution 2) Water Pollution 3) Flooding 4) Incinerators 5) Litter. Just a snapshot of the reports:

Air Pollution. The region starts from a low base cited  as being the  4th. worst area in the UK in 2013 with 5 days when it was potentially harmful to healthy people. 撤eople in the UK are 64 times as likely to die of air pollution as those in Sweden and twice as likely as those in the US.”

The Guardian, 17 May 2017 (WHO World Health Statistics 2017)

We offered ten possible solutions with the following being the first: ”Public transport costs have risen between 1980-2015 as follows: coach/bus by 61%, rail by 65% compared with cost of motoring has decreased by 19% Hardly an incentive to change habits. Make public transport cheaper and a pleasanter experience.”

Water Pollution.

Nationally the UK has failed to meet Water Framework Directives for at least the last ten years, incurring fines from the EU as a consequence. A loss of many millions of pounds to the the public purse.  

Greater Manchester’s rivers are again amongst the worst in the country despite the improvements made in the 1980s in particular as a result of the Mersey Clean up (ending some 20 years ago).

The United Utilities are a self-policing private concern whilst the Government’s Environment Agency is a public body starved of funds.  

Flooding.

Five times more as been spent on flooding issues in the south compared with the north of the country over the last 20 years. Much more will need to be done to counter the future effects of global warming.

We offered five solutions including:  Modification of the region’s rivers to allow them to return to their natural courses and flood plains where possible and implement second flood basin as per existing plan.

Litter and Fly Tipping.

A Channel 4 documentary included a part of Manchester continually being filled with waste, a large part of which were large empty containers of cooking oil. Often discarded chemicals and even human bodily waste are not appropriately disposed of, along with fridges, washing machines, remains of illegal cannabis farming, the list is endless.  

This is a disgrace and a blight on all of us. We do not believe it is being tackled effectively by our councils nor considered a serious offence by our magistrates.

We offered 4 solutions including better surveillance, particularly of beauty spots

Waste Incinerators.

We had little evidence to hand but Friends of the Earth said ‘Some chemical pollutants……are known to cause genetic changes. This represents not only a risk to present generations but to future

generations’.

In summary we (BOLD) believe our environment is under significant threat from Government cuts and lack of focus on this issue.

The group followed up this report by attending a question and answer session with the GM Mayor on the subject.  

We returned to the issue of our environment with an open meeting on the topic.