RESIDENTS and campaigners joined together in a walk to protect the green belt from the threat of expansion by Manchester Airport.

Around 60 people attended the Biodiversity Walk, near Manchester Airport to protest against plans to expand onto nearby green belt land.

Members of the Save Chorlton Meadows campaign and Save our North West Greenbelt group, based in Irlam, Salford, joined residents from Hasty Lane, in Mobberley, the Stop Expansion at Manchester Airport coalition and members of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Biodiversity experts spoke about the natural habitats under threat, including 400-year-old woodlands and great-crested newts. The family-friendly day out involved games and a picnic in nearby beauty spots.

Manchester Airport has plans to remove areas from the green belt to build more car parks and freight sheds.

The event is a continuation of the Adopt a Resident scheme, where campaigners have teamed up with threatened residents at Hasty Lane to help save their homes.

Hasty Lane resident Holly Johnson said: “This biodiversity walk aims to give people a visual experience of what airport expansion looks like.

“Not only is it bad for the climate and responsible for knocking down people’s homes, it’s also destroying beautiful green spaces.

“You cannot replace a 400-year-old ancient woodland by planting some new trees down the road.That’s not how biodiversity works.”

Biodiversity enthusiast Alison Hunt added: “I never realised what historic and untouched corners of countryside still exist around the Ringway airport boundaries – ancient woodland and hedgerows, historic cottages and farms, tranquil fields and ponds.

“These hidden gems are now all threatened by the airport’s expansion plans to become the ‘Heathrow of the North’.”