My Back Yard Action Plan - Manchester

My Back Yard Action Plan is a plan to increase green space and enhance wildlife in domestic gardens across Manchester, UK. The basis for creating the Action Plan was a research project conducted between 2016 and 2018 by the Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Leicester in collaboration Manchester City Council and other organisations. The research project aimed to estimate the actual amount of green spaces in Manchester's gardens and the amount of ecosystem services they provide. The findings of the research were used to define an action plan with six actions to improve green space and wildlife in gardens in the city. The action plan primarily targets private households and is jointly implemented by Manchester City Council, Manchester City of Trees, Lancashire Wildlife Trust, and Southway Housing Trust.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Agreement-based or cooperative instrument›Public-community agreement

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Drought and fire risk
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Heat stress and heat island effect
Nature appropriation / stewardship

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The action plan aims to improve green space and wildlife in domestic and private gardens across Manchester in order to enhance the ecosystem services that those gardens can provide, including cooling, stormwater management, drought reduction and improving air quality. Actions include replacing hard surfaces in gardens were green space, planting trees for shade and improve air quality, using drought resistant plants and planting a variety of plant types to improve wildlife.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Allotments, community gardens or agricultural areas

Good practice characteristics:

Effective

Sustainable in the long-term

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Governance

Non-governmental actor(s)

Initiating body:

Researchers, university

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The action plan is an outcome of the research project "My back yard: the contribution of gardens to urban ecosystem services in Manchester", which was led by Manchester Metropolitan University and co-created with four project partners: Manchester City Council, Manchester City of Trees, Lancashire Wildlife Trust, and Southway Housing Trust. During the project, researchers conducted an online survey to gather information from Manchester residents on how much green space exists in their gardens. This information was validated with aerial images. This information was used to estimate the value of ecosystem services provided by the city's gardens. Finally, the research results were used to develop an action plan to improve the benefits provided by gardens. Four project partners took part in three rounds of discussions, negotiations, and consensus building. These resulted in a co-developed action plan.

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs

Details about the implementation:

The four project partners (Manchester City Council, Manchester City of Trees, Lancashire Wildlife Trust, and Southway Housing Trust) are responsible for implementing the action plan. The action plan builds on pledges made by residents who took part in the survey and address: replacing hard surfaces in gardens with green space, planting trees for shade and improve air quality, using drought resistant plants, and planting a variety of plant types to improve wildlife. The action plan primarily targets private households and aims to improve the ecological quality of private gardens. However, there are multiple actions targeting the Manchester City Council, housing providers, universities or local NGOs.

How did the government support the instrument?:

The Manchester City Council was part of the project from the beginning, is a co-owner of the action plan, and has committed to co-implement the action plan. The city has recognised that the action plan contributes to its Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy, Climate Change Strategy and Manchester Core Strategy.

Financing

Sources of funding:

Corporate investment

Private Foundation

Inversión empresarial

Fondos proporcionados por una organización no gubernamental

Budget:

Unknown

Details about instrument financing:

The delivery of the action plan is funded by collaborative and individual efforts by project partners, using resources such as Heritage Lottery Fund, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the private sector, Section 106 agreements, project partners’ operational resources and staff or volunteer time. A concrete budget or fundraising goal is not specified.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

The implementation of the action plan was overseen by the Manchester Green Infrastructure Strategy Group, which reviewed and reported on progress in the implementation of actions to improve green spaces in the gardens during their regular meetings. However, no official follow-up report is available.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

The My Back Yard project developed a new understanding of the benefits that gardens provide for residents in Manchester. The research provided evidence on the amount of green space in gardens, how it is spatially distributed across the city, and how this affects the associated benefits that green space provides. Participating residents committed to introducing changes to their gardens to improve delivery of ecosystem services, and reported on these in an online survey. In a follow-up survey, around 45% of residents confirmed that they introduced changes to reduce flooding and improve air quality, circa 70% of residents introduced changes to increase wildlife and reduce drought and ca. 35% of respondents introduced changes to reduce overheating.

Success factors and lessons learned:

The action plan and the research project from which it stemmed were successful in motivating the citizens to voluntarily pledge and deliver on concrete actions to enhance the ecological quality of their gardens. This was achieved thanks to a clever design of the research survey. When filling in the survey the residents were informed about the benefits of introducing the changes in the gardens and were asked to pledge to make those changes. The residents were motivated to participate in the online survey and the follow-up survey with a chance of winning financial rewards. The project represents a cost-effective way to improve the delivery of ecosystem services through distributed action of multiple private actors. The delivery of the action plan is supported by the fact that it was co-created and is co-owned by relevant stakeholders as well as charities working in the fields of wildlife protection, protection of trees and restoration of woodlands and improving housing conditions. The delivery of the action plan was integrated into the existing structures of the municipality (it is overseen by the cross-departmental Manchester Green Infrastructure Strategy Group, that also involves external actors).

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Manchester City Council (2020) Manchester Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy Implementation Plan Refresh 2021-2025. Available at: https://democracy.manchester.gov.uk/documents/s32880/Appendix%202%20Green%20and%20Blue%20infrastructure%20refresh.pdf

Cavan, G. (2018), My Back Yard, An Action Plan to increase green space and enhance wildlife in domestic gardens across Manchester. Available at: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/media/mmuacuk/content/documents/school-of-science-and-the-environment/urban-environments/MBY-ActionPlan.pdf

Manchester Metropolitan University (2018), My Back Yard. Assessing the contribution of domestic gardens to urban ecosystem services. Available at: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/environmental-science-research/urban-environments-research-group/research-themes/projects/my-back-yard.php

Cavan G. (2018), My back yard: the contribution of gardens to urban ecosystem services in Manchester. Available at: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/media/mmuacuk/content/documents/school-of-science-and-the-environment/urban-environments/1.-MBY-Intro-Gina-Cavan.pdf

My Back Yard Facebook Page. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/mybackyardmcr/

Further documents

Documents:

MBY-ActionPlan.pdf

Weblinks:

https://www.mmu.ac.uk/environmental-science-research/urban-environments-research…

Photos

Ayuntamiento de Manchester