The trees in St Peter's Square are 'Princess' or 'Empress' trees (Paulownia tomentosa) which are native to central and western China. I believe they were planted in 2014/2015. I initially thought that TPOs might have been applied to protect native species, but sycamore and horse chestnuts hail from elsewhere in Europe so perhaps not.
I write as a town planner (who worked for Manchester back in the 1980s), and east Manchester resident. When it comes to this kind of thing (TPOs, enforcement against planning breaches, making sure planning conditions are observed) the city planning service is essentially responsive - they only act in response to complaints. This isn’t due to recent cuts, it has always been like that.
The result is that actions such as TPO designations are only done in areas where people know how to work the system - putting places like Didsbury, with its concentration of professionals and graduates, at an advantage. It is discriminatory against working class areas; and, since these areas include parts of the city where minority ethnic people are prevalent, it is arguably institutionally racist. The generally poor calibre of Labour councillors doesn’t help.
Since very few white collar city council employees are so committed to the city that they will condescend to live in it, it is hard to see how this can improve, when for most of them, inner city areas are places they commute through. I can point to a major environmental nuisance by our estate, where years of resident and councillor complaints have not overcome officer resistance to taking effective action. (There is a TPO on our street in Beswick though - thanks entirely to there being a retired planner living there…)
As an ecologist, I can shed some light on trees in Manchester City Council district.
The magnificent city centre is incredibly compact, of sheer necessity due to the Victorian-Edwardian buildings requiring powerful reliable lifts to move goods and people to upper floors - impossible with early electricity but enabled by very expensive hydraulic pipework. The hydraulics even powered the tick-tock of the Town Hall Clock. The impressive streets are "canyons" starved of elbow room for pedestrians, trams, buses, taxis, cars, cyclists and "street furniture". Street ventilation is poor and street trees make air pollution worse. Not much of a problem ifa healthy breeze is blowing along the street, but when the wind blows at right angles to the street then the street is locked in a horizontal roller of stale air that gets staler by the hour. Only in a few spacious areas such as St Peter's Square can large trees make sense, as the magnificent Empress trees from China, as flagged up by Dani. There is a second tree from China - the extraordinary Maidenhair Tree - its a "living fossil", thought to have been extinct for millions of years but discovered alive in monastery gardens in China and thriving today in city centres such as Manchester and Stockport.
I found your comments refreshing Richard. To expand a bit: any tree over a certain size in a Conservation Area enjoys the SAME LEGAL PROTECTION as a tree having a Tree Preservation Order. So thousands of trees enjoy TPO legal protection simply because they happen to be growing in a Conservation Area. A remarkably extensive network of Conservation Areas exists across South Manchester, causing the "tree canopy cover" to easily qualify as a world-class Urban Forest! In contrast, North Manchester has less extensive Conservation Areas and so, by default, far fewer trees enjoy de facto TPOs as their birthright.
With a team of Lib Dems, I pinpointed on Google Earth a total of 34,030 mature trees destroyed by development in the 20-year period 2000 to 2019.
WOODHOUSE PARK WARD – 5,166 trees destroyed by development
HARPURHEY WARD – 2,786 trees destroyed by development
ARDWICK WARD – 2,776 trees destroyed by development
CLAYTON/OPENSHAW WARD – 2,250 trees destroyed by development
CRUMPSALL WARD – 2,044 trees destroyed by development
CHEETHAM WARD – 1,926 trees destroyed by development
ANCOATS & BESWICK WARD – 1,857 trees destroyed by development
NORTHENDEN WARD – 1,684 trees destroyed by development
MILES PLATTING & N.H. WARD – 1,367 trees destroyed by development
HULME WARD – 1,312 trees destroyed by development
PICCADILLY WARD – 1,185 trees destroyed by development
DEANSGATE WARD – 916 trees destroyed by development
LONGSIGHT WARD – 937 trees destroyed by development
BAGULEY WARD – 874 trees destroyed by development
CHARLESTOWN WARD – 832 trees destroyed by development
SHARSTON WARD – 810 trees destroyed by development
GORTON & ABBEY HEY WARD – 809 trees destroyed by development
DIDSBURY WEST WARD – 550 trees destroyed by development
DIDSBURY EAST WARD – 512 trees destroyed by development
CHORLTON PARK WARD – 432 trees destroyed by development
MOSS SIDE WARD – 379 trees destroyed by development
LEVENSHULME WARD – 331 destroyed by development
OLD MOAT WARD – 301 destroyed by development
CHORLTON WARD – 272 destroyed by development
HIGHER BLACKLEY WARD – 269 trees destroyed by development
WHALLEY RANGE WARD – 267 trees destroyed by development
WITHINGTON WARD – 252 trees destroyed by development
BROOKLANDS WARD – 244 trees destroyed by development
RUSHOLME WARD – 234 trees destroyed by development
FALLOWFIELD WARD – 184 trees destroyed by development
BURNAGE WARD – 183 trees destroyed by development
MOSTON WARD – 89 trees destroyed by development
During our study, the biggest surprise was discovering Manchester's largest living organism - not a single tree, but the dense thicket of Aspen Trees whose shared rhizomes are calmly invading the grassland in much-loved Ryebank Fields in Chorlton Ward, strengthening the case for designating the site as a Grade B Site of Biological Importance, and creation of a Local Nature Reserve. My calcs show that the Aspen is the UK's fastest growing tree, albeit with most hidden underground, permanently sequestrating carbon twice as fast as forest trees.
Many of these will be in the Blackburn Park Conservation Area where all trees over certain dimensions are protected. The Conservation Area was initiated by local residents. There may well be other areas where this applies but local residents need to get these balls rolling and keep them rolling as well.
That big cluster directly north of Marie Louise Gardens is a big old manor house thats been converted into flats. The buildings next to it are new-ish (10-15 year old?) houses. I'm guessing that entire property and land was sold to developers and protection of those trees was a condition of the development.
Hi. As a town planner can I help by clarifying Jane’s comment. She is correct trees over certain size are protected in any conservation area. This means most city centre trees are protected as large parts are CA. You can still find TPOs in a CA but it is less common. That said - shocking imbalance north to south, I expect it will correlate with many other indices of deprivation.
Please would you join me in requesting the council put Tree Preservation Orders on the University of Manchester North Campus' beautiful trees (and encourage your friends and social media followers to do the same):-
Only those north of the viaduct currently have any protection, as they fall within the Whitworth Street Conservation Area and the whole areas is threatened with redevelopment (https://www.id-manchester.com/)
The trees in St Peter's Square are 'Princess' or 'Empress' trees (Paulownia tomentosa) which are native to central and western China. I believe they were planted in 2014/2015. I initially thought that TPOs might have been applied to protect native species, but sycamore and horse chestnuts hail from elsewhere in Europe so perhaps not.
I’ll see if I can find out.
I write as a town planner (who worked for Manchester back in the 1980s), and east Manchester resident. When it comes to this kind of thing (TPOs, enforcement against planning breaches, making sure planning conditions are observed) the city planning service is essentially responsive - they only act in response to complaints. This isn’t due to recent cuts, it has always been like that.
The result is that actions such as TPO designations are only done in areas where people know how to work the system - putting places like Didsbury, with its concentration of professionals and graduates, at an advantage. It is discriminatory against working class areas; and, since these areas include parts of the city where minority ethnic people are prevalent, it is arguably institutionally racist. The generally poor calibre of Labour councillors doesn’t help.
Since very few white collar city council employees are so committed to the city that they will condescend to live in it, it is hard to see how this can improve, when for most of them, inner city areas are places they commute through. I can point to a major environmental nuisance by our estate, where years of resident and councillor complaints have not overcome officer resistance to taking effective action. (There is a TPO on our street in Beswick though - thanks entirely to there being a retired planner living there…)
Hi all.
As an ecologist, I can shed some light on trees in Manchester City Council district.
The magnificent city centre is incredibly compact, of sheer necessity due to the Victorian-Edwardian buildings requiring powerful reliable lifts to move goods and people to upper floors - impossible with early electricity but enabled by very expensive hydraulic pipework. The hydraulics even powered the tick-tock of the Town Hall Clock. The impressive streets are "canyons" starved of elbow room for pedestrians, trams, buses, taxis, cars, cyclists and "street furniture". Street ventilation is poor and street trees make air pollution worse. Not much of a problem ifa healthy breeze is blowing along the street, but when the wind blows at right angles to the street then the street is locked in a horizontal roller of stale air that gets staler by the hour. Only in a few spacious areas such as St Peter's Square can large trees make sense, as the magnificent Empress trees from China, as flagged up by Dani. There is a second tree from China - the extraordinary Maidenhair Tree - its a "living fossil", thought to have been extinct for millions of years but discovered alive in monastery gardens in China and thriving today in city centres such as Manchester and Stockport.
I found your comments refreshing Richard. To expand a bit: any tree over a certain size in a Conservation Area enjoys the SAME LEGAL PROTECTION as a tree having a Tree Preservation Order. So thousands of trees enjoy TPO legal protection simply because they happen to be growing in a Conservation Area. A remarkably extensive network of Conservation Areas exists across South Manchester, causing the "tree canopy cover" to easily qualify as a world-class Urban Forest! In contrast, North Manchester has less extensive Conservation Areas and so, by default, far fewer trees enjoy de facto TPOs as their birthright.
With a team of Lib Dems, I pinpointed on Google Earth a total of 34,030 mature trees destroyed by development in the 20-year period 2000 to 2019.
WOODHOUSE PARK WARD – 5,166 trees destroyed by development
HARPURHEY WARD – 2,786 trees destroyed by development
ARDWICK WARD – 2,776 trees destroyed by development
CLAYTON/OPENSHAW WARD – 2,250 trees destroyed by development
CRUMPSALL WARD – 2,044 trees destroyed by development
CHEETHAM WARD – 1,926 trees destroyed by development
ANCOATS & BESWICK WARD – 1,857 trees destroyed by development
NORTHENDEN WARD – 1,684 trees destroyed by development
MILES PLATTING & N.H. WARD – 1,367 trees destroyed by development
HULME WARD – 1,312 trees destroyed by development
PICCADILLY WARD – 1,185 trees destroyed by development
DEANSGATE WARD – 916 trees destroyed by development
LONGSIGHT WARD – 937 trees destroyed by development
BAGULEY WARD – 874 trees destroyed by development
CHARLESTOWN WARD – 832 trees destroyed by development
SHARSTON WARD – 810 trees destroyed by development
GORTON & ABBEY HEY WARD – 809 trees destroyed by development
DIDSBURY WEST WARD – 550 trees destroyed by development
DIDSBURY EAST WARD – 512 trees destroyed by development
CHORLTON PARK WARD – 432 trees destroyed by development
MOSS SIDE WARD – 379 trees destroyed by development
LEVENSHULME WARD – 331 destroyed by development
OLD MOAT WARD – 301 destroyed by development
CHORLTON WARD – 272 destroyed by development
HIGHER BLACKLEY WARD – 269 trees destroyed by development
WHALLEY RANGE WARD – 267 trees destroyed by development
WITHINGTON WARD – 252 trees destroyed by development
BROOKLANDS WARD – 244 trees destroyed by development
RUSHOLME WARD – 234 trees destroyed by development
FALLOWFIELD WARD – 184 trees destroyed by development
BURNAGE WARD – 183 trees destroyed by development
MOSTON WARD – 89 trees destroyed by development
During our study, the biggest surprise was discovering Manchester's largest living organism - not a single tree, but the dense thicket of Aspen Trees whose shared rhizomes are calmly invading the grassland in much-loved Ryebank Fields in Chorlton Ward, strengthening the case for designating the site as a Grade B Site of Biological Importance, and creation of a Local Nature Reserve. My calcs show that the Aspen is the UK's fastest growing tree, albeit with most hidden underground, permanently sequestrating carbon twice as fast as forest trees.
Re The trees in West Didsbury.
Many of these will be in the Blackburn Park Conservation Area where all trees over certain dimensions are protected. The Conservation Area was initiated by local residents. There may well be other areas where this applies but local residents need to get these balls rolling and keep them rolling as well.
Interesting! How did this work? A campaign to local council?
Usually yes. Most campaigns come from wealthier neighbourhoods, especially if threatened with development as a means to fight back
There's a few more around the Didsbury-ish area too. Off the top of my head theres:
- Albert Park: the area roughly bounded by Palatine Road, Lapwing Lane, Burton Road, Barlow Moor Road
- St James: around the Fletcher Moss corner of Wilmslow Road
- Northenden: an area a little to the East of Palatine Road
Interesting Jane/Dan. Someone on Twitter just pointed out that there is a big concentration in certain streets
"The concentration around just a few sections of road is bizarre (given the absence in parks/garden areas)"
https://twitter.com/Dobbo761/status/1658149318073757708
Link to explore is here https://open-data-mcr-council.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/234d49a3783b47e49d7016747654e988/explore?layer=0&location=53.414398%2C-2.241473%2C16.63
That big cluster directly north of Marie Louise Gardens is a big old manor house thats been converted into flats. The buildings next to it are new-ish (10-15 year old?) houses. I'm guessing that entire property and land was sold to developers and protection of those trees was a condition of the development.
A bit more detail about that location:
https://www.pjlivesey-group.co.uk/project/needham-hall/
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/universitys-flat-plan-for-historic-hall-1160193
https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/ab45c4ff-f7ec-3e82-ad7c-101fdcfa1224?component=2d81eb64-8df7-3a85-bdbe-78b3ab98babf
Ah got it, thanks
Hi. As a town planner can I help by clarifying Jane’s comment. She is correct trees over certain size are protected in any conservation area. This means most city centre trees are protected as large parts are CA. You can still find TPOs in a CA but it is less common. That said - shocking imbalance north to south, I expect it will correlate with many other indices of deprivation.
Thanks. We will check that correlation
Please would you join me in requesting the council put Tree Preservation Orders on the University of Manchester North Campus' beautiful trees (and encourage your friends and social media followers to do the same):-
https://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/508/tree_preservation_orders/1424/tree_preservation_orders_and_trees_in_conservation_areas
Only those north of the viaduct currently have any protection, as they fall within the Whitworth Street Conservation Area and the whole areas is threatened with redevelopment (https://www.id-manchester.com/)
Thank you very much
Where did this fantastic tree data come from? Is it on the council website somewhere?
Hi Giselle - yes it's on their open data portal. You can find it here:
https://open-data-mcr-council.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/234d49a3783b47e49d7016747654e988