Part of Southern Cemetery has today (Friday 14 March) been designated as Manchester’s 11th Local Nature Reserve.
The Council’s Executive has backed the status for a 28 hectare section of the old part of the cemetery in Chorlton Park ward, which opened in 1879, and is the largest municipal cemetery in the UK and the second largest in Europe. It features tree-lined avenues of mature beach and plane trees and has many magnificent specimen trees of significant age and ecologicial value.
The site, in Chorlton Park ward, is the latest across the city to be awarded the status, following the designation of Broadhurst Clough in Moston in 2023.
Local nature reserves are sites that contain wildlife and/or geological features that are of specific, local interest. They are effectively great places for nature.
Manchester is committed to delivering its biodiversity strategy, which was adopted in 2022. One of the key actions in the strategy is to increase the number of Local Nature Reserves in Manchester and it is proposed that further sites will be declared over the coming years.
Declaring sites as Local Nature Reserves offers increased benefits not only to wildlife but also to residents and visitors to the city. Designation can offer recognition for a site’s wildlife value and natural features, increase community awareness of natural environments and provide opportunities to learn about nature.
The section of the old part of the cemetery designated a nature reserve excludes areas which are in current use for burials or storage.
Local Nature Reserve Status is subject to formal approval by Natural England.
Councillor Tracey Rawlins, Executive Member for Environment, said: “Green spaces across our city have a vital role to play in our wellbeing and we are determined to support and celebrate biodiversity in these special places.
“Local Nature Reserves are selected because of their rich flora and fauna but also their strong Friends group which show how much they mean to the community.”
Councillor Lee-Ann Igbon, Executive Member for Vibrant Neighbourhoods, said: “Southern Cemetery is a flourishing and well-loved green space that rightly deserves its Local Nature Reserve status to go alongside the Green Flag it already has in recognition of how well-managed it is.”
