Chapter 3 : Study aims, Study Area, Sample Plots & General Methods
3.3 Study Areas and the City of Salford
The whole of the City of Salford was used as a study landscape as well as various smaller scale study areas within the more urban regions of the city (scale of study area changes with the research question and/or objective being assessed). The City of Salford is located within Greater Manchester, North West of England, and covers a large western part of the
Manchester conurbation (Figure 3-2). This conurbation can be characterised by the presence of dense urban and industrial development, commercial, financial, retail and administrative centres, commuter suburbs and residential areas, interspersed with a
network of green infrastructure (Natural England, 2013). The resilience of these green areas will be challenged as development pressures within the conurbation begin to increase. These pressures are underpinned by the drive towards economic growth which will require further built infrastructure and associated services (Natural England, 2013). Salford itself suffers from significant deprivation with particular problems in regards to obsolete housing, derelict and underused land and buildings, and poor environmental quality (Salford City Council, 2006, 2007, 2009) (Table 3-1). In addition to the complex mosaic of urban areas at various stages of regeneration, Salford also contains rural, urban fringe, and green belt areas (Salford City Council, 2006, 2007), reflecting the heterogeneous complexity and ecologically fragmented characteristics of urbanised environments (Table 3-1). Table 3-1
contains a brief introduction to the landscape characteristics and key features of the rural, urban fringe, and urban areas of Salford.
Figure 3-2: The location of Salford within the North West of England.
Salford exists within the Greater Manchester conurbation, characterised by dense urban and industrial development, commercial and residential centres, and a network of green infrastructure. Salford also suffers from high levels of deprivation and the urban areas exhibit various levels of regeneration.
The whole of the Salford landscape (study landscape) was used to assess the relationship between societal metric patterns and UTI landscape structural patterns (Research Question 4, Figure 3-1). To assess changes in potential landscape connectivity over time and space (Research Question 2, figure 3-1) a smaller study area and four sample plots within the valley of the River Irwell were used (Figure 3-3 and 3-4). This same ‘river valley study area’ (but not the four sample plots) was used to assess UTI network resilience (Research Question 3, Figure 3-1).
Table 3-1: The City of Salford’s landscape character and key landscape features.
Table 3-1 presents a brief outline of Salford’s landscape character. The sections in bold represent the areas of particular research interest and explain the topology, land use and land cover types, vegetation, and water cover that can be found within the river valley study area (Salford City Council, 2006, 2007, 2009)
Key Features
Landscape Character Classifications and Descriptions
Rural Mosslands Urban Mosslands Urban Fridge Lowland Urban River Valley Urban Areas
Topography Low lying, low relief
topography. Low relief topography. Lowland area crossed by small streams forming narrow valleys.
Medium scale, U shaped
valley. Varied. The western half of the City of Salford is characterised by largely low-lying, low relief topography. The eastern half of the city is characterised by a south facing ridge running from the north west to the south east. Small streams have carved out narrow valleys running generally north to south.
Land Use and Land Cover
Network of deep drainage ditches running alongside private roads and between large fields. Arable agricultural land use with large scale fields. Small patches of peat bogs. Some birch and scrub woodlands as well as planted woodland for forestry, game, public access and amenity value. Relatively little built environment. Railway line and canal.
M60, M61, and M62 Motorway interchanges. A pattern of large fields (some disused) and evidence of past mining activities. A small area of scrub and planted woodland containing a few hedges has reclaimed the mossland and a former colliery
respectively. Small woodland and grassland areas create a local nature reserve. Disused farmlands now contain two ponds and a small area of planted woodland. Relatively little built environment.
Two major roads with interchanges and a railway line. Areas of farm land and arable disused farmland. Wooded slopes and narrow streams. Relatively large areas of woodland including wet woodland. Relatively large amounts of water cover including a lake, small ponds and a canal. Golf courses, areas of open land, and little built environment.
Principally open land following the River Irwell. Poor quality farmland. Extensive areas of good quality woodland some of which have been planted over former landfill and sewage works. A large lake and areas of marsh/swamp. Areas of lowland heath. Unimproved acidic and neutral grassland and wildflower meadows. Encroachment of urban development (although there are few buildings on the valley floor). Major roads and railway line.
Transport infrastructure such as railway lines, the metrolink, and a canal. Large parts of central Salford suffer from significant levels of deprivation and there are particular land use/cover problems with regards to obsolete housing, derelict and underused land/buildings and poor environmental quality. Residential neighbourhoods containing older housing areas (some of which are of low quality and have a lack of open space) and newer housing areas (some of which are of poor design and layout). Large and older industrial areas which suffer from dereliction and traffic congestion. The City District shopping centres consist of relatively poor quality precinct developments; suffering from
environmental problems such as vandalism, low standards of land and property maintenance, and traffic congestion.
Vegetation Trees, scrub, grasses,
mosslands, hedges. Trees, scrub, grasses, hedges. Trees, grasses. Trees, reed beds, grasses, wild flowers. Trees, garden vegetation. Water Relatively little although
there are wetter patches in areas where drainage is poor.
Ponds. Narrow streams, small ponds, a relatively large lake and a canal.
Lake, ponds, marshes,
swamps, river and streams. Canal.
The valley of the River Irwell which runs through Salford contains the greatest diversity of vegetation and land cover types within the city (Salford City Council, 2007). Therefore, the river valley is considered as a very important wildlife corridor, helping to bring biodiversity right into the centre of a major conurbation (Salford City Council, 2007). The river valley study area lies within the southern section of the valley, within the east of Salford, and consists of the Broughton, Kersal, and Irwell Riverside electoral wards (Figure 3-3). The southern section of the river valley study area represents part of the river Irwell’s flood basin (Salford City Council, 2007) and contains highly urbanised areas and various types of tree cover (i.e. linear street trees, woodland patches, and singular, scattered trees). Therefore, the river valley study area is reasoned to be a suitable place to investigate the levels of UTI landscape connectivity across various heights and UTI network resilience.
To undertake an up-to-date tree inventory and to compare potential connectivity levels over time, four tree canopy sample plots (Figure 3-4) were selected within the river valley study area (Figure 3-3). These sample plots contained varying levels of tree cover, composition, and configuration (Figure 3-4). A circular window with a diameter of 500m was used to select these four sample plots located within north-eastern Kersal, southern Irwell Riverside, Higher
Broughton (north Broughton), and Lower Kersal (south-western Kersal, Figure 3-3
).
The north- eastern Kersal sample plot (referred to as ‘Kersal sample plot) is located in the least deprived area of Kersal (Salford City Council, 2008c) and exhibited around 42% tree canopy cover in 2009 (Figure 3-4). The sample plot within southern Irwell Riverside is located within Peel Park and the University of Salford’s Peel Park Campus and therefore will be referred to as the ‘Peel Park sample plot’. The Peel Park sample plot contained a high canopy cover in 2009 (33%) (Figure 3-4) and is within the 7-10% most deprived areas nationally (Salford City Council,2008b). The ‘Higher Broughton sample plot’is located within one of the most deprived areas of Broughton as well as within the 3-7% most deprived areas nationally (Salford City Council, 2008a). The Higher Broughton sample plot also contained 6% canopy cover in 2009
(Figure 3-4). The ‘Lower Kersal sample plot’is located in the most deprived area of Kersal and is in the top 3% most deprived areas nationally (Salford City Council, 2008c). Furthermore, the Lower Kersal sample plot exhibited the lowest canopy cover value of around 3% in 2009 (Figure 3-4).
Figure 3-3: River valley study area in East Salford.
The river valley study area sits within the southern part of the Irwell River Valley, Salford. The boundary of the river valley study area is represented by a red line and contains the electoral wards of Kersal, Broughton, and Irwell Riverside. Four sample plots have also been selected within the river valley study area. The four tree canopy sample plots can be divided into two categories – high density canopy cover, and low density canopy cover. High density tree cover 1 (blue) is located primarily in Peel Park while high density tree cover 2 (green) exists in Kersal. Low density tree cover 1 (pink) can be found in Higher Broughton
Figure 3-4: Tree Canopy Sample Plots.
Each tree canopy sample plot is within a 500m diameter circle and contains varying tree cover, composition and configuration. Sample plots 1(~33% tree cover, Peel Park) and 2 (~42% tree cover, Kersal) represent high canopy density landscapes. Sample plots 3 (~6% tree cover, Higher Broughton) and 4 (~3% tree cover, Lower Kersal) represent landscapes with relatively little amounts of tree cover. Tree cover percentage taken from 2009 data.