Object Now!

[please feel free to add your own words, pictures or photographs, personalise with examples of how this issue already does or would affect your daily life, or delete any sections that do not resonate with to you.] [YOUR Name] [Address- include postcode] [Date] To whom it may concern, RE PLANNING APPLICATION – RYEBANK ROAD Planning Application Reference 142223/FO/2025 I am writing to you to OBJECT to the above application for development on Ryebank Fields, for the following reasons: 1) Loss of an irreplaceable Greenfield nature space. Manchester Council should not approve the destruction of a semi-natural rewilded space to be destroyed, when there are decades worth of Brownfield sites yet to be developed within walking distance in Chorlton, Old Trafford and Stretford. The Manchester Core Strategy highlighted the deficit of natural and semi natural green spaces in the south of the city over a decade ago, and Manchester Council’s own Housing Land assessment identifies double the amount of brownfield land in Manchester required to meet government targets for housing need. 2) Amenity and importance to the community. Around 25,000 residents live within a 15 minute walk of Ryebank Fields (with this number set to increase significantly). Thousands of those people support the campaign to Save Ryebank Fields. The Local Plan consultation in 2020 received an overwhelming response from 100s of residents that Ryebank Fields should be protected as a Local Green Space, and council officers agree that it meets the required criteria of being ‘demonstrably important to the local community on the grounds of its beauty, history, recreation, tranquillity, and wildlife value’. The plans also propose building a road over the much loved and well used community garden at Rye Bank Road. The garden was built by residents and is registered as an Asset of Community Value. 3) Traffic and road safety. The roads at the South end of Ryebank Fields are narrow, very long, and become very congested at peak times – especially school drop off/pickup, parkrun events and other athletic meets, football and cricket match days at Old Trafford. Cars park along each side of the roads, and on Longford Road this prevents vehicles or cyclists passing and causes frequent conflict and at times even angry scenes especially at school run time. St John’s Primary school is immediately adjacent to the Fields on one side and entrances to Longford Park on the other, and Longford Road is marked in the Chorlton Infrastructure Framework as a connecting cycle route to the ‘Busy Beeway’ which starts at that same Park entrance. Ward Councillors and council officers have explored solutions over the years but have been unable to implement them because of budgetary and logistical constraints. Traffic worsening at peak times would increase the existing risks and unpleasantness for pedestrians, including children in buggies, and cyclists. 4) Air pollution. The streets surrounding these Fields are already above the 85th percentile for pollution in the UK and exceed multiple WHO air pollution limits. A development on Ryebank Fields would result in increased congestion on these long narrow roads and worsen this issue, whilst reducing the vegetation which has a mitigating effect. This is concerning for residents and for parents of the children who attend the two nearby schools of St John’s and Oswald Road. There is also concern that the process of development would unearth and expose toxic gas, dust, and other hazardous materials. 5) Heritage. The historic Nico Ditch, elsewhere in the City registered with Historic England as a scheduled monument, is believed to run through the fields, its importance was even recognised in the 2017 Development Framework for Ryebank Fields. The proposals do not fulfil the requirements to ‘enhance the Nico Ditch’ but instead will destroy it. 6) Flooding. Houses and leisure areas near Ryebank Fields are already subject to flooding when there is heavy rainfall. Ryebank Fields provide a natural flood defence, and I am concerned that the large scale removal of this flood sink will worsen this existing issue. Please acknowledge this submission and let me know where it will be logged for future reference. [Insert name]

• Manchester has a Brownfield-first policy; Ryebank Fields is classified by Manchester City Council as Greenfield • Manchester has double the amount of Brownfield land needed to meet housing targets

• Rewilded thriving ecosystem • Variety of habitats – woodland, scrub, grassland • South Manchester is a nature depleted area • Ecology report shows there will be a 40% loss of biodiversity on site • Manchester’s Biodiversity Strategy states that 98% of respondents to its consultations said they were concerned about the loss of wildlife in Manchester

• Bats, badgers, hedgehogs, bird species of conservation concern • Ryebank Fields is home to priority species – bats, swifts, Black Poplar trees, hedgehogs, toads, willow tits

• Fields currently act as a carbon sink • Extensive invasive works in relation to the Thirlmere Aqueduct means there is likely to be extensive damage to the root system of the Aspen Grove, which is rare in Manchester and locks up and stores double the amount of carbon of other trees • Eastern woodland boundary and silver birches at south end will be lost • Loss of some of the Millennium oaks, a special feature of the fields

• 25,000 residents live within 15 minute walk of the fields • Much-loved and well used by the community for children playing, nature connection, dog-walking, walking route between Chorlton and Stretford • Many community events take place – e.g. women’s walks, carols, bat-watching, guided walks, singing sessions, wassails, children’s nature craft events, children’s trails, community meetings, therapy sessions • RF is important to the community because of its wildness, natural beauty, tranquility, history (Nico Ditch), recreation • Ryebank Road Community Garden would be lost

• Nico Ditch – the plans would build over and obliterate a section of this potential ancient monument, a mediaeval or possibly Anglo Saxon boundary marker that spans the City • Longford Conservation Area – Paths, lighting and rooflines from the development would impact on the views and relaxed timeless setting (including sounds) of the heritage lottery award winning Park.

• Proposed development could add 240 cars to local roads • Extra cars created by the development would further endanger vulnerable road users – children, pedestrians, cyclists – at school run times, which are already very congested and dangerous • Local roads are also very congested due to the proximity of Longford Park Stadium – eg an average 700 people take part in weekly Parkrun events there • The development is next to an entrance to Longford Park, which would cause further road safety issues • Longford Road residents have already had several instances of contact with councillors re congestion currently • More cars and the loss of vegetation on RF would worsen the air quality around the park and St John’s Primary School; Manchester already has some of the worst rates for children’s emergency admissions to hospital for respiratory conditions in the UK

• There are already issues with flooding of properties in the surrounding area and Longford Park; hard landscaping on the fields and loss of vegetation will mean more flooding for local properties

• Impact on air quality in local neighbourhood and St John’s playground while building work is done (estimated two- three years) • Continued impact of air pollution caused by more vehicles and loss of trees and vegetation which mitigate it • Light pollution will have a detrimental impact on wildlife, especially if paths and lighting are placed in woodland area • Concerns about disturbance and release of new of toxic materials into soil and water and the potential impact of transportation of toxic landfill materials on local schoolchildren and residents

NE and East edges

Planning for housing refused in 1996, on appeal was also refused. In 2005 MCC advised MMU Planning would not be granted as there was no evidence of local need, MMU chose not to pursue at that point

Concerns of risk of disturbance and release of new wave of toxic materials into ground, water, ecosystem, and air