THE banks of a Bolton river are to be restored and natural flood defences bolstered as part of a £1.8M ‘green recovery’ project.

The River Croal is one of the priority projects for the Greater Manchester Environment Fund (GMEF) that will establish a network for nature across the region.

The establishment of the fund is also good news for people working in the environment and young people looking for green careers as 37 jobs will be created or safeguarded, including 12 traineeships.

The Greater Manchester Environment Fund (GMEF) is being established to deliver the area’s ambition for a ‘clean, carbon-neutral, climate resilient city region with a thriving natural environment’,  by aligning public and philanthropic funding and attracting private investment.

Managed by the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, which has a base on Bury Road in Bolton, the fund will be launched in spring, but with the success of a collaborative bid to the  Green Recovery Challenge Fund, some projects will start now to demonstrate a desire to provide networks for nature to flourish.

Up to 59 hectares of habitats along the Croal are within the project with the aim to fund natural flood management projects and peatland restoration, transforming areas into carbon stores.

The River Croal is a tributary of the Irwell and flows eastwards through Bolton, collecting Gilnow Brook and the larger River Tonge at Darcy Lever.

Most of the river is culverted through Bolton town centre, running under Knowsley Street; Market Place and Bridge Street.

It meets the Irwell at Nob End, Kearsley after a total course of around ten miles.

Other Greater Manchester projects include the restoration of 48 hectares of wetland and lowland peat on the mosses in Salford and Wigan, 117 hectares of moorland peat on the Pennines above Oldham and 58 hectares of improved habitats, including island habitats along the Ashton and Rochdale canals.

The Wildlife Trust’s director of nature and wellbeing, Daveen Wallis, said: “This is brilliant news.

“The fund will reflect the bee brand, pollinating projects with financial support so they can blossom and be part of the recovery of nature in Greater Manchester.

“The bid is a collaboration between environmental non-government organisations who work across Greater Manchester and have been hardest hit by the pandemic.

“Mersey Rivers Trust, Canal and Rivers Trust, Northern Roots, RSPB, City of Trees, The Conservation Volunteers, Cheshire Wildlife Trust and the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership have come together to support Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s build back greener campaign.”

The fund will also support volunteering projects and campaigns to get children and families out into nature to improve health and wellbeing and encourage them to make lifestyle changes to benefit them and the natural world around them.

Daveen, said: “There is rising climate anxiety amongst young people who have also been hit the hardest by Covid19.

“Our proposal will inspire and support volunteers across our 10 priority habit projects as well as delivering 12 traineeships targeted at 16 – 25-year olds.”