JULY 2019 FIRST TIME IN THE NEWS
On the 10th of July 2019 Manchester City Council announced its plans to build the car park; and planning application is posted on the website. A group campaign organisers set up a website www.treesnotcars.com and started their petition on 38 degrees.
The very same day the Council also declares Climate Emergency!
https://democracy.manchester.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=2803
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MARCH 2022
Manchester World Working class and middle class feel neglected’: How Labour lost a Manchester council by-election
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FEBRUARY 2022
Manchester Confidentials Liberal Democrats take Ancoats and Beswick from Labour in by-election upset
https://confidentials.com/manchester/liberal-democrats-take-ancoats-and-beswick-from-labour
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MARCH 2021
MEN Car park defeat cost Manchester Council at least £50,000 - and it's not the first expensive legal loss. Critics say the council, in particular the leadership, is 'out of touch' with residents and cannot admit when it is in the wrong
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FEBRUARY 2021
The Guardian Manchester council loses legal fight to build car park next to school. Campaign group Trees Not Cars says victory exposes ‘hypocrisy’ of council’s approach to air pollution
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MEN Campaigners win battle over Manchester council plans for car park near school as High Court says officers 'misled' planning committee
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Manchester Confidentials Seven days in Manchester: City loses car park battle, 'super courtrooms,' Jigsaw closes for good
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The Meteor Manchester council lose judicial review over Central Retail Park planning decision
https://themeteor.org/2021/02/19/judicial-review-central-retail-park/#:~:text=Grassroots%20campaign%20group%20Trees%20Not,temporary%20440%2Dspace%20car%20park.
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The Manc Campaign group Trees Not Cars block council from putting car park next to school
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Greater Manchester Housing Action Trees Not Cars win judicial review against Manchester City Council
http://www.gmhousingaction.com/trees-not-cars-judicial-review/
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Tribune Manchester’s Fight for the City
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/02/manchesters-fight-for-the-city
Local Government Lawyers Campaigners win legal challenge over temporary car park next to school but council vows to appeal
The Planner Community group wins legal fight against city council car park plans
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NOVEMBER 2019
We continue or battle for greener Manchester - our response to Sir Richard Leese's statement how the Council is ready to " work with anybody" https://www.themeteor.org/2019/11/22/sir-richard-leese-says-we-are-open-to-working-with-anybody-we-asked-campaign-groups-what-they-thought-pt-4/
OCTOBER 2019
It transpired that the Air Assessment Report referenced in the Council’s report published under the planning application was based on incorrect information: it reported an impact of a 12-hour opening period, but the car park is planned to be open 24 hours
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Planning application was passed 7-3 on the 17th of October to build the 2 -year car park! https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/ancoats-car-park-manchester-council-17099504
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That's TV programme about our fight at the Committee https://youtu.be/yqGpxT98uSE
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SEPTEMBER 2019
Andrea Sandor, a journalist working with Confidentials.com issued an Article ‘Central Retail Park became a battleground for Manchester’s Future. Part 1’, where she covered the cheap car parks already available in the city centre.
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In Part 2 of her article she carried out detailed research of effects of air pollution on children’s health and asthma rates across the UK. She talks about the very sad case of Ella – a girl who died of asthma attack after the disease developed rapidly. In order to raise awareness about impact of pollution on children lung development, Ella’s mum started her campaign called The Ella Roberta Family Foundation (http://ellaroberta.org/about-ella/). In Ella’s lungs, they found small ‘particular matters’ from tyre wear. We all breathe the same particles.
In order to care – we need to be aware!
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We organised events for local people to gather, talk about campaign and show how space cane be used as People's Park: https://www.manchesterfoe.org.uk/events/event/the-peoples-park-bbq-use-it-or-lose-it-hosted-by-trees-not-cars-mcr/
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AUGUST 2019
A protest was held by Northern Quarter residents to confront both schemes of the proposed Central Retail Park car park and the great Ancoats Street Improvement Scheme, which removed cycle lanes. This was the beginning of the TreesNotCars campaign
Read about it in our first Meteor article https://www.themeteor.org/2019/08/03/campaigners-join-forces-to-protest-council-schemes/
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MEN publish their first article about the campaign and the petition
Manchester Evening News: Calls for town hall to scrap Ancoats car park plan and turn it into a 10-acre green community space: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/calls-town-hall-scrap-ancoats-16741809
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The Meteor publishes its another article about us brining up “breach legal limits for pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10). Both are dangerous pollutants are linked to long term organ damage, cancer and respiratory problems”.
https://www.themeteor.org/2019/08/22/ancoats-residents-want-a-peoples-park/
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Extinction Rebellion 4 days Occupation of Deansgate starts. Gemma is interviewed by Channel 4 news about the Central Retail Park, our vision and the campaign.
Channel 4: Extinction Rebellion block one of UK’s most polluted streets: https://www.channel4.com/news/extinction-rebellion-block-one-of-uks-most-polluted-streets-in-manchester