Meeting of the Friends of Nutsford Vale Country Park on 23rd May, 2018
at the Bluebell Inn, Levenshulme

Attendees:  Rita Edge, Barrie Edge, Claire James, Bruce James, Christine Prunty, John Prunty, Ally Fogg, Mark Lucas, Maureen Riding, Alan Gibson, Bernie Cree, Steve Cree, Karen Hewitt, Jenna Ashton

Apologies:  Barbara Moore, Gail Nicolson, Finola McGrath, Caroline Brandwood, Mavis Holt, Nigel Ganley

Welcome:

Rita began the meeting by welcoming everyone on  the sad occasion with the knowledge that the school had been given the go ahead to be built.  She thanked everyone who had helped in anyway over the past eighteen months with the fight to Save Nutsford Vale Country Park.
She then passed the floor to Alan Gibson.  He had taken a look at the letter sent from the Secretary of State's office which had been signed by the Chief Planning Officer which indicates it is a matter of planning.  The letter says that it the Council's responsibility to see if any Environmental Assessment had been carried out.  From the documents he had seen and the script on the Environment website about air pollution, noise and hydrology it seems that they have not carried it out in a proper manner.  There is also the possibility of costs to do with the economic value of green space.  We need to formally ask the Council if they have carried out an Environmental Impact Assessment and if so can they send copies of it to us so we can study them.  Anyone can go on the gov.uk website and put in Environmental Impact Assessment (TCPA_EIA_ENVIRONMENTAL) and it comes up with a list of things that need to be considered.   Barrie said that it comes up that the Environment Impact has not been requested by Manchester City Council and so it considers it does not need one.  Alan said it is the Council's job to fill in a proper form and all its' catergories and looking at the catergories on the official Government form he thinks there are questions to be asked.  Under European Law this EIA has a wide scope and a broad purpose.  We are involved in Annexe 2 which seems to give a bit of discretion about what they can do.  We need to tell them not to proceed until this is carried out.  The permission for building on Mellands was given with the Vale being its recreational area for the houses and this is Cummalitive Effect.  Rita said that the Council will come back with the fact that the Vale is not all being built on.  Alan then said that as we had asked the Minister to call in the Planning Application we can now write to the Case Officer saying  either the Council refuses or doesn't want to carry out an EIA we can call this in and it is called a Screening Decision.   No one was aware of this and Barrie said he thought the decision was final.  Alan said that under the old rules it was but after 15th May 2017 anything put into Planning went by the new rules and ours was put into Planning in October, 2017.
Alan then said about Tree Economics.  The lifespan value of a tree on average in London is £5000 with yearly servicing benefits of between £50 and £65 so in money terms how much are the trees on Nutsford Vale worth to us.  Jenna issued a word of warning that once you started putting figures on the space the Council would come back with  figures regarding the cost of maintenance of the site.  Bernie pointed out that last year although the bins were emptied regularly Continental Landscape only mowed the verges 1.5 times plus they trimmed bushes once and it was left to some of the group to mow and cut hedges and bramble regularly throughout the year.  Jenna said it would be interesting to calculate the cost of the hours of volunteering.  Bernie thought we should put that to the Council but Jenna added that she did not know a community lawyer who would be up for it.
Claire asked how Brexit on 29th March,2019 would impact on European law but Alan said that all existing laws would remain in place in the short term until the Government could pick through them and change what they needed to so it would not affect us and in any case European Law was on our side.
Rita said we had two items in the pipeline.  One is the Big Lunch and the other is the Gorton Carnival.  We will still go ahead with these and in any case until the build goes ahead it will be business as usual.  She then asked should we suspend the official litter picks.  There continued a robust and humourous debate about what we should do, whether only do half the Vale, all of it or none of it.  Unfortunately it will be the group and users of the Vale who will suffer if the litter is not picked and at the moment the Vale is the most glorious it has been for many years.  There was half a garden wall dumped behind Christine's house last week and both Rita and Bernie separately reported it as fly tipping to the Council and within a couple of days it had been taken away so any big items that are seen on the Vale it would be an idea to report them.  The more people who put requests in the better.  Ally  said he wanted Lang O'Rourke to officially take responsibility whilst the build was going ahead and after he wanted the school to take responsibility for Nutsford Vale as it will be a "flagship" Forest School.  Bernie said because the group had been chopped into so fiercely she for one didn't feel like doing anything.
Rita had emailed the Council about the schedule for the cutting of the verges and a new contract was being signed on the 2nd June, 2018.  They had commented about the bins but Rita told them we had no problem with the bins.  As I write the verges were cut yesterday (Saturday 26th May, 2018) and it has improved the Vale and made it look really loved once more.  (It was anyway)
Bernie wanted to officially ask when the build will start but Rita said Suzanne was going to get in touch with her if she knew anything was happening.  John rementioned that the Staff at the school should be made aware by the Council and Builders how bad the contamination is regarding Environmental Health.  Employees have a duty of care but when John had asked at the three consultations if they were to be told he was told it was not their responsibility to relay the information.  The Environment Agency is not forthcoming as Bernie and Steve have written on various occasions and have had no replies.  The staff at this agency have been reduced by 10,000 but this is no excuse.  They must have done calculations to say it is safe as they could not make a statement that is is alright to proceed and we need these calculations.  Rita and Bernie explained about the loss of green space and toxity of the land to parents outside the schools but most were not interested and all they wanted was a new school.   The first rains and Ringwood Avenue and surrounding roads will be flooded and full of rats.
Someone asked Rita if we had written to Prince Charles but apart from saying it will be a "carbuncle" he will not be allowed to intervene.  As a group we have written to everyone we can think of.
Jenna said that although it was devastating news she wanted everything about the site documenting.  This might mean the toxic waste, photographs of trees, films, sound recordings, cuttings from newspapers etc to create an interesting case study.  It could be on cameras, mobile phones, jotting down notes, drawings and sketches.  She wanted to see how people invest in the site, how they maintain it.  Steve hopefully has a man with a drone flying over filming soon and he hopes to put it on the Internet.  There is not alot recorded about urban biodiversity as it is not deemed as important as rural.  Rita and Bernie always forget to take photographs of the recent events we have been involved in which is a shame because some of them have been extremely successful.
The mission statement of Nutsford Vale Country Park on our website is "protecting green spaces for future generations".  Rita wanted to know if the group wanted to take over Pink Bank Woods.  Some were concerned about Landcare taking it off us like the Council have the front of the Vale but Landcare have said we can take it over in perpetuity and the Council cannot override that.  Steve is just concerned about the flytipping but it is something for us to really talk about when the dust settles over the issue of the Vale.
Steve  wants to ask MP Afzal Khan to raise the matter of building on toxic land fill sites in the House of Commons to see who is liable if things go wrong.  Other MPs may have toxic landfills in their areas.  Nothing is safe regarding green spaces being build on.  Ally said they were playing Green Belt off against Brown Belt which was unfair.  Jenna said the Brown Belt issue was about the working class and who has the right to green space and this will be continuing and on going.
Alan stated that the Council have never been forced into making a Community Neighbourhood Plan and indeed Richard Leese threw out Levenshulme's plan as it would prove to costly to instigate.  We need to stay as a formal Community Group for this and for the mutual support and comfort of members of the Group who will find it difficult when the build goes ahead.
At the next meeting it was suggested that we invite all nine of the Councillors in the area so we will be able to get personal feedback from them.  This meeting will be on Wednesday 13th June, 2018.
Alan wants everyone to download the MyTREE software so we will be able to estimate the amount of each species of tree.  Both Alan and Rita have tried to unsuccessfully.
Steve asked Jenna if she felt dejected before she had started her research with what had happened to the Vale.  She said it was difficult.  There is website called 596 acres which is about green space in New York run by activists.  It explains about legal proceedures and how to fight planning applications, a process we have had to find out for ourselves along the way.  

Next meeting:                                  13th June, 2018  Blue Bell Inn at 6.30 pm

The Big Lunch                                   16th June, 2018 Bickerdike Entrance 
                                                            10.30 am for 12 noon start
                                                            Bring some shop bought food to share  
                                                            friends
Gorton Carnival                               8th July, 2018  Debdale Park
                                                            Details to follow