Building a riverside community

The River Tame is an important blue-green corridor within a densely populated area of East Manchester, providing health, wellbeing and recreational benefits for those living close by. It is also an important migratory corridor for a wide range of aquatic species, such as brown trout and coarse fish, as well as small mammals, bats and birds.   

During 2021 we restored over 6km of the river between Ashton-under-Lyne and Haughton Green where we carried out improvements to the habitat to benefit people and wildlife and helped set up the Friends of the Tame Valley to continue the work after the end of the project.   

Beyond this area, the River Tame flows through Reddish Vale Country Park, which is in one of the most deprived areas of Stockport, and in one of the most deprived areas in England (Stockport CCG JSNA 2020), where mortality is one and a half times greater than the average for the borough.  In 2019 Brinnington was reported to have the highest prevalence of depression in England.  

Reddish Vale Country Park is heavily used by local people for walking, exercise and a space for reflection; this was especially apparent during lockdown and the higher rate of usage has continued since then.  This project aims to build community involvement in caring for the River and the Country Park and to reach out to people who have not previously visited. 

Our initial project generated significant public engagement with the River Tame and we aim to maintain the momentum through reaching out to deprived communities along a further stretch of the river.  We will work with local people from Reddish Vale to develop their engagement with the natural environment of the River Tame and the Country Park by: 

• Organising events around the river and its environment, including river clean-ups; litter picks; wildlife walks; family days with wildlife-themed activities for children; 

• Supporting the Reserve volunteers with training in dealing with vegetative Invasive Non-native Species (INNS) and supplying the equipment to enable them to do this to ensure that there is a long term, continuing INNS control programme;  

• Training the volunteers in other conservation management techniques and providing them with the tools to continue doing so after the end of the project. 

We aim to build a self-managing and sustainable cadre of volunteers rooted in the local community who will lead the conservation management of the various habitats along the river and Country Park.  This will not only enhance the value of these blue and green spaces for the local community but will contribute to community cohesion and promote health and wellbeing. 

Our project will cost approximately £43,000 and will help safeguard a post overseeing the project and pay for volunteer training and equipment.  The project will deliver the following outcomes:  

• 200 people from the local area will participate in events;  

• 12 people will regularly volunteer at the Reserve, including 4 new regular volunteers; 

• 20 people will gain accredited qualifications and/or certificates of attendance on in-house training courses in nature conservations, practical skills, wildlife knowledge; 

• 8 people will be trained in certificated skills e.g. herbicide spraying. 

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