Two must-read articles about Alexandra Park, where the chainsaws are moving in… (See our previous editorial on the subject here).

From the Hulme Green Party, “Alex Park protesters take to trees to stop “Felling Vandalism”

Manchester Green Party Chair Deyika Nzeribe commented “The campaign group has done everything right. They got over 2000 signatures asking for the plans to be reconsidered, they got local experts to show how the councils plans to be altered to preserve trees and they have been in dialogue with both the Council and funders the Lottery every step of the way. They have been completely ignored.

To draw a parallel, last week Manchester City Council made a great show of how unfair the cuts to local budgets were and how the government were ignoring them. The council are acting in exactly the same way as the government to this local issue.”

From Nadine Andrews, who is part of the Save Alexandra Park Trees group, a post that gives you history, useful theory and references.

…. 150 years later Manchester City Council plans to ‘restore the park to its former Victorian glory’ reintroducing formal areas and increasing the amount of recreational areas at the expense of the wilder natural areas, felling around 400 trees and clearing over 3 acres of habitat supporting protecting and priority species.

Despite huge local opposition to the proposed scale of tree felling and habitat destruction (over 2000 people to date have signed an e-petition), the council intends to march on with its plans regardless, all the while claiming it has local support but without actually supplying any verifiable evidence of this. Hardly a shining exemplar of participatory democracy.