Top 10 beauty spots Mancunians are proud of - Dunham Massey and Heaton Park top the list

A new poll has revealed the beauty spots Manchester residents are most proud of – including Dunham Massey, Heaton Park, and Lyme Park. The survey of 200 adults, who live in Manchester and the surrounding area, also found that streams and rivers (53 per cent), hills and mountains (48 per cent), and lakes (41 per cent), are the top features that locals think make an area beautiful.

And more than eight in ten (82 per cent) say no matter where you go in the world, it’s hard to beat the beauty of Britain’s green spaces. Mancunians also love living near areas of natural beauty – with over a third (34 per cent) saying they would like to live away from a motorway, while 14 per cent would prefer to live away from a factory.

Almost three-quarters (74 per cent) believe power stations, in particular, ruin beautiful views of the countryside. The research, commissioned by Smart Energy GB, follows the publication of a new report by energy experts Cornwall Insight – which finds that if households become more flexible in how and when they use electricity, Britain could avoid the need to build the equivalent of four new gas-fired power stations in 2030.

This alone would save over £2.5 billion in 2030, while also lowering our carbon emissions. And households participating in flexible electricity initiatives also stand to save up to £375 off their annual energy bills in 2040, according to the report. Embracing flexible electricity initiatives that rely on smart meters – such as time-of-use tariffs, and shifting some electricity usage away from peak times (typically weekdays between 4pm and 7pm) – would also remove the need for nearly a billion pounds worth of additional infrastructure upgrades in 2030, according to the new report.

Victoria