Neil Swannick is coming on the On The Move show on 5th December (show’s at 10am). Anyone got any questions they would like to ask him? The theme of the interview is making Manchester the Greenest City in the UK, with an emphasis on the forthcoming year. Graeme
I notice that one of the Green City targets is a 3% increase in morning peak journeys made to the city centre by transport means other than the car – should Manchester not be a little more ambitious if it wants to become the greenest city?
Why aren’t all street lights using “green” electricity?
I congratulate the idea of Manchester aiming to be the greenest city.
I would like to ask Cllr Swannick what plans, if any, mcc have to further pedestrianise areas in the centre, for example the bottom end of Oldham Street and Lever Street, have the buses turn left onto Dale Street then onto Lever Street, and relieve the chaos out side the old woolworths building on piccadilly.
Or pehaps ban all motorised vehicles except buses on Sundays and open up the city centre to family friendly activities.
Or perhaps make the city centre access only to cars so no drivers use it as a through route.
Or expand the Metroshuttle bus to cover the Northern Quarter and expand on the electric/hybrid options on these vehicles.
Perhaps introduce higher rates or fines on businesses that insist on burning electricity for advertising purposes, or on bars that do not recycle bottles, or any business that does not recycle what waste it can (or are you to afraid and only pick on residents for this?)
I could go on but will leaves space for someone else.
Hi Neil – Given that aviation is a major contributor to the rapid rise in the pollutants responsible for global warming, how can Manchester City Council aim to be ‘the greenest city in Britain’ when it is actively supporting a huge expansion of Manchester Airport – in which it is the majority shareholder?
Hi Neil – the deregulation under Thatcher of the city’s bus services has led to a proliferation of small companies all working the same routes into town – leading to dangerous conditions for cyclists; loads of diesel fumes and more congestion – whilst many of the buses are running nearly empty. If the buses were re-regulated the council would have control over the number of buses running on all routes – cutting down on congestion – as well as being able to require the buses to run on LPG instead of dirty diesel – a truely green measure. What is Manchester City Council doing to bring pressure on the Government to reintroduce regulation on bus services?
I would like to echo Dougs comments re buses. I would also like to ask Cllr Swannick if Manchester could consider using, or at least advocating green electricity to power the Metrolink system.
Hello
Neil should we leave it up to the market or should the government step in and say the car ownership is to high and has to be cut what happens if the the amount of cars in the country goes up to 38 million car owners how are we going to control this growing demand for car ownership as more people want to own cars and space run out
Its great that you have initiated this campaign.
However I’d love to hear your opinion on a few points:
The top priority in the NWDA’s Action Plan is reducing the need for travel. What can we do to encourage more homeworking and integrating office and residential districts?
Growing our own food cuts food miles, improves growers health and well-being and allotments are also the ‘green lungs’ of the city. So why is the council selling off in-demand allotments for development? There are plenty of brownfield sites which could be used for housing.
Finally, surely the Greenest City is the one with the least carbon emissions, pollution and the least finite resource use i.e. the smallest ecological footprint? Not the city which is improving fastest which is Manchester’s measure. To take the example of local air pollution: its easy for the dirtiest city in Britain to make bigger improvements in air quality than anyone else, but they could still be the dirtiest city in Britain. This is not credible. We need to back up these claims with evidence.
Dear Mr Swanwick
As a future green City Manchester is well behind the rest of the country in waste management and transportation ,Landfill sites set to be full in only a couple of years and only Just started to investigate Anarobic digesters (these would take years to get on line through all the red tape and discussion whereas places like Spain (once considered a third world country) are leading in the technolgy in Europe . Waste into energy and fertiliser as by-products
All buses on the Manchester roads are way behind the times with smokey diesles . Hybrid Electrics all over the world even in New York work very well
Also what about using the vast underused forgotten water ways that Manchester has running right through the city and to beyond the motorway ringroads Eco friendly Park and ride waterbourne transport!.
It works in loads of European cities and was a feature here in Manchester on the River Irwell “from Salford Quays up to the Cathedral (with Electric boats in the late 19th century) The boarding quay near to the Cathedral is still there in places ) why not make use of these recources on your doorstep ?
If you do not know how ask someone that does,dont get left behind by building high density housing on green sites where the areas cannot sustain more transport on roads .
Technolgy exists to make things better,greener and less polluting its called planning for people not planning for profit
I would like to ask Cllr Swannick about what the Council is doing in Longsight. The recent and ongoing developments there have left the pavements extremely narrow, especially on the Stockport Road past the Bay Horse pub and the Manchester Super Store where it is extremely busy. I have 3 young children and find it impossible to shop there safely since this work has been done, as there is not space to move safely.
Why is Manchester which is aiming to be the greenest city making pavements narrower and roads wider. This can only discourage people from using their local shops and instead drive to out of town areas? I thought that pedestrians had top priority in the City’s plans for roads.
I would like to invite Cllr Swannick to come with me and my children to this area to see the exact problem that has been created. I’ll even buy him a cup of tea if he comes.
I am disappointed that the Kwik Save in Levenshulme has closed down, and now there are no comparable local shops. It is hard to do my shopping in Longsight as it is difficult to get on and off the bus with full trolley loads of shopping and Longsight is a nightmare at the moment with all the digging that is going on.
If we are to become the greenest city we need to support local shops so that people do not need to do lots of travelling. What does Neil Swannick think the council can do about these problems?
Congratulations on the Manchester Cycleway – it’s great and helps me regularly on my travels. Can we have more bike lanes please, especially on main roads or mirroring the routes followed by main roads. Also can we have existing cycle lanes properly signposted by direction signing (so that you don’t suddenly run out of directions) and also kept clean especially from broken glass. In many cities throughout Europe they have far better and safer cycle lanes, and this can only serve to encourage more cyclists, which would help us to become greener.
I recently visited London and found the City Centre was much cleaner, quieter and less polluted than it used to be. Most noticeable was the low numbers of cars but the higher volume of busses and pedestrians. People tell me that this is a result of congestion charging in the centre of the City. Is Manchester considering congestion charging to reduce car usage?
Could Cllr Swannick tell us about this, and if the Council is not doing this what else is it doing to reduce the car usage in the City?
why hasn’t the Council published its timetable and targets for Greenest City?
it’s been almost two years, so a review of how it’s meeting these targets would be an interesting indicator.
would Cllr Swannick publicly commit to ensuring a review is held, in an open and accountable many, and the results published on the website and in its paper publications?
Is it coincidence that those emptying wheely bins in less affluent areas appear to take less care (ie leave much more mess) than when they empty bins in richer areas???
Hi Neil,
Greater Manchester’s Draft Cycling Strategy set a target of a 10% increase in cycling over the next 5 years. Given that cycling probably accounts for less than 5% of all journeys in Manchester, this equals a yearly target to increase the modal share of cycling by less than 0.1%
Taking this almost nonexistant target into consideration, who many years (or decades) will we have to wait until Manchester experiences the same levels of cycling that they have in other advanced / green European cities where cycling levels a vastly superior to those in the UK.