Arwa Aburawa, co-editor of Manchester Climate Monthly, on the long long wait for ward level plans for Manchester.

It’s been almost two months since the wards plans for Machester were supposed to be approved by Manchester City Council. And we are still waiting. We were lucky enough to get a sneak peek at the draft plans for Chorlton. According to these, the only plans relating to environmental issues included sorting waste and recycling for some flats, graffiti reduction, litter issues and leaf clearance. There was however one interesting promise to “put in place targeted support to the Friends of Beech Road Park.”

Ward plans for Harphurhey remain in the bureaucratic pipeline. According to an MCC bod, “Unfortunately a document like this needs to be seen and approved by several managers and elected officials before it can be signed-off. The wards plans for all 32 wards in Manchester are currently being updated in this way so I can’t jump the gun until there is a city-wide green light.” Surely, they knew all this before so why has it been months since the official approval date (March 2012) and actual announcement (still waiting)? We remain, as ever, waiting for answers and a logical explanation.

And more importantly, will these much-awaited ward plans include climate change issues and ways to increase the resilience of the ward? Only (lots more) time will tell.

Related articles

• “What did you do in the ward, daddy?” (manchesterclimatemonthly.net)