It’s been fantastic to get out there and talk about Cyan Lines. This is an epic project - one which all started from a simple phone call from Tom Bloxham and the words “I’ve got an idea…”

That’s not a call you ignore, and it’s resulted in a pioneering evolution of our city to make it one of the most globally recognised nature embracing cities in the world. We’re creating a whole new eco-system and there’s some amazing ideas being cooked up behind the scenes.

The origin point is the culmination of Tom’s passion for canals and rivers, and mine for green spaces. We’re integrating them together to exponentially restructure the landscape of Manchester.

We have intricately mapped out a complete framework of every bit of existing blue and green space in the city - including those in the process of being created - and formulated a plan of action under the umbrella of four key pilot routes, each with its own focus and related projects and partners. Each will focus on a different theme, with the purpose of connecting existing and proposed linear parks, green corridors and traffic-free walking or cycling routes.

As a finished scheme - which we hope to achieve by 2035, we hope to anchor the entire city. This is a movement that will build on the momentum of projects already in action - I liken it to the Manchester International Festival - this is MIF for nature.

Cyan Lines will link everything together, in a way becoming the Head Gardener in what are currently separate departments dealing with work or projects in isolation.

We’re already working with Komoot, a route planning app which will share information about everything from the species of trees in an area, to the storm water drainage system, to why a park was originally built. We want to feed the mind, and get people to look at their feet and truly connect with their surroundings.

Our North route will focus on community involvement and stewardship over gardening - building on the already weekly event which sees residents from all over Manchester come together to garden. The east route will focus on recording nature, the south on research and academia and the West on rivers and waterways.

We have had what can only be described as a monumentally positive response, backed by funding from a whole cocktail of avenues across the public and private sector. Central government is enthused about what we’re doing, and we have the support of some of the biggest organisations in the country from the National Trust to Natural England as well as support from the National heritage lottery.

We’ve put together ten ‘laws’ of what will constitute a Cyan Line. This includes mission statements such as ‘must include a cultural anchor/ destination’ and ‘must be green or blue and avoid vehicular traffic as far as possible (with a plan to make totally traffic free)’. To ‘pass,’ each route needs to be able to offer at least eight of these intentions - this is more than a map, a walk and a good idea! The laws make sure we’re delivering what we set out to achieve.

Internationally we’re attracting a lot of interest, in fact - the Commissioner of New York - Ydanis Rodriguezmare has just launched a remarkably similar scheme for his city - not because of us I might add - but it shows that we’re not the only ones thinking in this way.

It's a huge undertaking but we’re following the lead of pioneers such as Mayor Anne Hidalgo in Paris who used the 2024 Olympics to accelerate a transportation revolution that kicked vehicular traffic off major thoroughfares, expanded the region's Metro system, built 600 miles of bike lanes, planted 65,000 trees, and created over 200 pedestrian plazas outside schools.

It can be done - and it will be - although I sometimes feel like the pessimistic one compared to Tom who is eternally generous with his ambition and comes at everything fearlessly.

There’s just so much opportunity to do amazing things - we’re thinking of floating walkways on the river like in Copenhagen, and a floating sauna like they have in Oslo - our European counterparts are a great source of inspiration.

I’ve a long working relationship with Urban Splash, we go back a long way! I worked with Jonathan Falkingham as the BCA Landscape office junior when I was 16, and I’ve known Tom for many years.

Together we’ve worked on several projects together such as Longlands Mill in Stalybridge, an old cotton mill which we transformed into 44 homes across two buildings, and Campbell Park in Milton Keynes, where we’re in the process of creating the ultimate new town. This is an exciting project which is situated next to a 100 acre park forming the backdrop of our masterplan to create a space which prioritises people, not vehicles.

Planit and Urban Splash are totally aligned in how we tackle projects with pioneering sustainability and an integrated approach to putting nature at the heart .