News, Manchester
A “well-loved” cemetery has been named as a city’s latest local nature reserve.
Part of Southern Cemetery in Chorlton-cum-Hardy has been designated as Manchester’s 11th nature reserve to go with its green flag status.
Manchester City Council’s executive backed the accolade for a 28-hectare section of the old part of the cemetery, which opened in 1879.
It features tree-lined avenues of mature beech and plane trees and has many specimen trees of significant age and ecological value.
It is the largest municipal cemetery in the UK and the second largest in Europe.
Local nature reserves are sites that contain wildlife and/or geological features that are of specific local interest.
The section of the old part of the cemetery designated a local nature reserve excludes areas which are in current use for burials or storage.
It follows Broadhurst Clough in Moston which was made the 10th nature reserve in the city in March 2023.
‘Flourishing’
Councillor Tracey Rawlins 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 added: “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.”
