Northern Roots

Bird's eye view of lake

Image by Northern Roots

Northern Roots

About the project

PROJECT TITLE: Northern Roots

LOCATION: Oldham

FUNDING: Awarded £99,997 from the Green Recovery Challenge Fund

PARTNERS: Northern Roots

The idea

Northern Roots is a project being specially developed for and with local communities, creating a wide range of activities and businesses on the site. The project is designed to engage with the area’s diverse communities, school groups and youth organisations within the park’s immediate vicinity, while improving the park’s quality of greenspace and biodiversity.

In line with Greater Manchester’s Five-Year Environment Plan, the site will develop bigger and better woodlands, wetland and species-rich meadows to improve biodiversity.

This investment in wildlife will allow local people who are not typically engaged with Greater Manchester’s environment the chance to get in touch with the nature on their doorstep. The Northern Roots site lies between diverse communities, established white British residents, established south Asian immigrants and more recent eastern European migrants, all within a mile of Oldham’s commercial centre.

The Northern Roots project aims to transform the under-used landscape into a vibrant multipurpose destination, showing private and public sector organisations how to better value the natural environment to unlock growth in the green economy and reconnect people with nature.