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Standing in the open green space of Northern Roots, it is hard to imagine the landscape as it once was.
Two cotton mills, two coalmines and an industrial railway once occupied this 65-hectare (160-acre) site in Oldham, Greater Manchester. Later, about 24 hectares became a tip, with much of the space left to nature.
Over the past five years, Northern Roots, a charity, has been developing this once industrial land, running community programmes including a Natural Health Service.
On 19 September a new facility will open to the public, featuring a cafe, shop, production kitchen, performance space, forestry skills centre, outdoor play areas and an urban farm. The charity’s ambition is to turn what was once a “burden” into the UK’s largest urban farm and eco-park.
The idea began with Oldham council, which wanted to explore green space as an asset. Today the council works in a unique partnership with Northern Roots.
“We wanted to look at what this land could do for Oldham, rather than simply seeing it as land that needed maintaining,” said Anna da Silva, the founder and chief executive of Northern Roots.
The charity’s seven activity programmes, which include farming and food, arts and culture, sports, business and learning, have been designed to appeal widely.
“The hardest part is getting people … physically and psychologically out of their house, down to the site, meeting people where they are on that journey,” said da Silva.
Once they are through the doors, the aim is to encourage continued engagement so they can unlock the environmental, economic and social benefits – a challenge that led to the creation of “participation pathways”.
This philosophy is perhaps best demonstrated by Faiza Awan and Louise Gibbs, who both grew up in the area and became involved with Northern Roots as community champions. Awan said: “It’s really important to have something for everyone.”
Gibbs added: “There’s just so many doors to come in through Northern Roots, and then to continue development.”
Both now have roles as Natural Health Service guardians. Unlike green social prescribing programmes that are centred on exercise or gardening, Northern Roots’ Natural Health Service focuses on intentional connection with nature. In doing so, it embodies the wider aims of creating opportunities for people who might not otherwise come together.
The site sits between two different and historically divided communities, and its outdoor setting helps to make it a space where people feel able to participate. “It’s a very welcoming, inviting environment,” said Gibbs. “With it being outside, people automatically feel comfort.”
Awan said: “There’s something really levelling and very democratic about doing things outside in nature,” adding that it could create a sense of belonging that might be harder to achieve in other settings.
The importance of connection is reflected in the relationship between the community and the site. Gibbs said: “Because [people] are local they feel more connected to the space … it’s giving the ownership to the community.”
The Natural Health Service was commissioned through Northern Roots by NHS England. It launched in 2023 as a six-month pilot with patients from the Hill Top GP surgery in Fitton Hill. It now works with healthcare providers to support people experiencing mental health challenges.
A session may involve foraging, bushcraft, making something from natural materials or simply noticing what is around you. The principle is that being outside, in an environment without the clinical associations of a healthcare setting, can create room to slow down.
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Gibbs said: “People might come in and they might be flustered from the morning, the school run or the next 10 things they need to do, but we really encourage people to slow down, to take that breath, to give themselves permission, to spend this time on themselves and to simply just be in this space.”
Independent NHS research published in 2025 found that participants in Northern Roots’ Natural Health Service improved their wellbeing scores by an average of 8.15 points on the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, a seven-item questionnaire used to measure a person’s recent wellbeing. The project generated an estimated £4,940 in social value per participant.
However, the benefits extend beyond metrics. “You can’t put it in facts and figures, in black and white,” said Gibbs. “Seeing someone’s eyes light up when they’ve said they have not been out for years. They’re excited to come the next week.” The benefits were mutual, she added. “It makes me feel good within myself, seeing that person is happy in that moment.”
Northern Roots is intended to be a model for others. “There are bits of land like this all over the place,” said da Silva. “They’re seen as a problem. We have got an approach to evaluating the place where you are, the site that you have, the needs of the community, the opportunities within the site.”
Northern Roots aims to attract 300,000 visitors a year by 2030, dispense hundreds of Natural Health Service social prescriptions – connecting people to non-medical community-based services – and create employment and training opportunities.
The idea that land can be a resource is part of Northern Roots’ wider proposition: that urban green space should be treated as critical infrastructure in the same way as hospitals and schools. Da Silva said it should be seen as “part of an arsenal of tools that can be used to address issues and support communities”.
The challenge is not simply to demonstrate what the land can provide, but to build the case for investment to make that possible.
“We need commissioners to invest in these spaces in the same way they would built infrastructure,” said da Silva. The aim is to show that relatively modest investment in land can help to reduce pressure on other public services.
For da Silva, however, the value of the project is not only in what it can deliver for public services. It is also in how it changes people’s relationship with the land. The ambition is to change “the way people feel about a place, themselves and their place in that place”.
