“You’re doing a great job!” shouts a young girl from a passing car as it whizzes along Stretford Road. Her cheerful encouragement was directed towards the Love Old Trafford volunteers who were weeding and planting on a roadside grass verge that is now blooming with wildflowers and buzzing with pollinators. 

The young girl was right: the group have done a fantastic job of transforming a formerly neglected patch of land into a corridor of urban green space. 

The “Old Trafford Community Goes Wild” project represents the borough of Trafford in our Green Spaces Stories series. I joined one of their regular Saturday volunteering sessions and chatted to project lead Caroline Corless to find out more. 

1. Hi Caroline. Can you tell us about the backstory of your project?
 

Love Old Trafford have been making Old Trafford a cleaner, greener and even better place to live since 2011.

Over the years, we’d noticed that there was a section of land on Stretford Road that was being used for unofficial stadium parking, as it sits just outside of the parking restriction zone for Old Trafford football ground. On match days, vehicles would cram onto the grass verges and the ground was getting badly churned up, not to mention covered in litter. It got so bad that cars were getting stuck in the mud, and pieces of residents' fencing were taken down by drivers to free their wheels.  

We got increasingly fed up with seeing the state of the space and decided that something needed to be done! I had heard of the Green Spaces Fund, so I approached Kieron, the Green Spaces Fund advisor for Trafford, in December 2022.

We consulted with the local community including a landscape architect and horticulturalist who could see the potential of the site if it was given some TLC.

We wanted to develop a project that could be enjoyed by the whole community and visitors for years to come. 

2. What did you hope to achieve with your project? To what extent have you been able to accomplish your goals?
 

We had two main objectives. 

Our first objective was to bring the space to life with plants that would provide year-round food for wildlife. This has most definitely been achieved with a huge variety of insects including multiple species of butterflies, moths, bees, ladybirds and other insects spotted on site. 

We recently commissioned an ecology report which compared the biodiversity on our project site with one further along Stretford Road, which has continued to be mown by Trafford Council. The report shows a 145% increase in plant species, a 375% increase in all insect species and a 525% increase in pollinator species, all within 18 months of starting the project. 

Our other main objective was to permanently keep vehicles off the site. This would allow the ground to recover and also improve the air quality for the residents who live next to the site.

This has mostly been achieved, although we occasionally see determined individuals who try to reverse their large vehicles into one of the very few gaps between planters, trees and bee posts. You can tell that this behaviour still makes me cross!

3. What is the biggest impact your project has had?
 

Without doubt, the biggest impact has been the massive increase in the biodiversity.

Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see bee orchids, dragonflies, hummingbird hawk moths, butterflies (meadow brown, speckled wood, red admiral, orange tip, large skipper, common blue to name a few), solitary and bumblebees, ladybirds plus many more insect species on our site. 

4. What has been the most challenging aspect of bringing your project to life?  

The most challenging aspect was bringing such a large project to life in just 12 months.

The verges were so damaged by vehicles that it was impossible to plant in the boggy conditions after a very wet spring. However, after approvals to extend the project twice, we were able to deliver on budget in September 2025. 

We also didn't initially include interpretive signage in our application budget, but quickly realised that signage was going to be an integral part of demonstrating that this space was now being looked after and could be enjoyed by the community. We were allowed to spend 5% of the total grant on signage, which was quite a challenge to deliver given that the site covers 1,700m²! But we managed it, and the signs look brilliant and show passers-by what plants and insects they might spot. 

It's also an ongoing challenge to demonstrate to passing men that a woman knows how to operate a mower... 

5. In relation to your project, what are you proudest of? 

I am most proud of the group of wonderful volunteers who gave their time, energy and commitment, sometimes in appalling conditions, to help bring the project to life. It would not have been anywhere near as successful without them and the hundreds of volunteer hours invested.

Also, I’m proud that we’ve forged successful partnerships with our project partners, Groundwork, Backyard Edens, OT Creative Space, The Conservation Volunteers, Nature Signs Design and Terraecology.  

6.  How has the funding from the Green Spaces Fund aided your project? 
 

The Green Spaces Fund has massively helped us to develop and deliver our project. We would only have been able to deliver limited changes without it, like allowing the grass to grow and a small amount of planting. This would likely not have deterred match day parking. 

I would recommend the Green Spaces Fund to others, but the project manager should not underestimate the skillset which is required to deliver a large and complex project.  

7. What advice would you give to people who wanted to launch their own Green Spaces Fund project?
 

It’s funny that you should ask this, as I’ve recently met several people from different areas in GM who were keen to learn more about our experiences applying for the Green Spaces Fund. 

To any group in GM, my advice would be to make sure that they have a good group of supportive and committed people around them. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t get many volunteers turning out and don’t panic if timeframes start to slip.

Completion of a large project is a major achievement, and you should take time to enjoy it. Never cease to be amazed by wildlife... make it and they will come!   
 

9. How can people get involved if they’d like to know more about your project?
 

Love Old Trafford have several ongoing projects in the area, check out our website or email us at loveoldtrafford@gmail.com to get involved.