Tom Ross, Leader of Trafford Council and Greater Manchester Lead for Green City-Region today launched ‘Bee Net Zero | Trafford Park’, a new partnership which will help businesses based on the park to access funded services to help them transition to net zero.
The event, which took place at Trafford Park’s Green Skills Academy, to launch the initiative which has been established through a partnership between Bee Net Zero, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Trafford Council and the Growth Company. Delegates also visited Trafford Park resident Creamline Dairies to understand some of the decarbonisation activity already underway on the site.
Trafford Council has made addressing its climate crisis one of its corporate priorities. Speaking at the event the Leader said:
“Trafford Park is the largest industrial park in Europe and a vital component of Trafford and Greater Manchester’s economy, housing 1,300 businesses and providing over 35,000 employees in commercial and industrial sectors.
“Although a significant economic asset to the city-region, it is also the source of almost half of Trafford’s overall carbon emission and the single largest carbon emitter in Greater Manchester, which means that action is needed to retrofit the park for a net zero future. This partnership tackles that challenge head on, through the Bee Net Zero partnership.”
Bee Net Zero is a Greater-Manchester-wide partnership which aims to make the city-region the easiest place to become a net zero business, by simplifying the business support landscape. The partnership unites a range of organisations and support programmes who are committed to making the transition as straightforward and cost-efficient as possible for businesses.
Photo: Tom Ross, Leader of Trafford Council visiting the Green Skills Academy on Trafford Park to launch the partnership.
This project will provide Trafford Park with a dedicated point of contact who will triage each business to understand their specific challenge and introduce the right solution and project partner, at the right time.
Mark Hughes, Chief Executive Officer at the Growth Company said:
“Decarbonising industry and achieving Greater Manchester’s ambitious target to be net zero by 2038 will be a challenge requiring investment, innovation, adoption of sustainable practices and new ways of working across local government and business. For the continued economic prosperity of Trafford and Greater Manchester it is crucial this transition is done through decarbonisation rather than deindustrialisation, supporting innovation, job creation and economic resilience.
“This campaign demonstrates the wide variety of funded support that is available to businesses as they tackle climate change with their own carbon reduction plans. I encourage local businesses to take advantage of this project and ensure that Trafford Park is fit for a net zero future.”
The Leader then visited Creamline Dairies, who have been based in Trafford Park since 2015, for a live site audit of their premises. The business is highly motivated towards achieving net zero, having installed LED lighting across all their operations, and heavily investing in more electric delivery vehicles in the coming year.
The delegation was shown around the site by Chris Swallow, owner of Creamline Dairies, and Alasdair Dalzel-Job, Technical Lead at Green Economy who conducted the site visit as part of the project. Chris said:
“We’re really positive about the opportunities that Alasdair has identified in his site audit, and the recommendations include a number of no cost solutions that will improve our efficiency and save us cash on our energy bills. It is amazing that this resource is offered at no cost to businesses in Greater Manchester.
“This campaign is so important to Trafford Park. We’re enormously proud to be part of this major industrial hub and its vital that businesses on the site access the support on offer to ensure its fit for the future.”
Photo: Amy House, Director of Green Economy, Chris Swallow, Owner of Creamline Dairies and Tom Ross, Leader of Trafford Council visit Creamline Dairies to look at decarbonisation activity underway at the Trafford Park facility.
Businesses operating on Trafford Park can explore the project and access support via the Bee Net Zero website.
