SALFORD’S COMMUNITY PLAN 2005-2015:
Working together IN Salford
“In 2015, Salford will be a beautiful and welcoming city, driven
by energetic and engaged communities, of highly skilled,
healthy and motivated citizens, who have built a diverse and
prosperous culture and economy which encourages and
recognises the contribution of everyone for everyone.”
FORWARD/ INTRODUCTION
We are pleased to present Salford’s Community Plan 2005- 2015, which provides the strategy for Salford over
the next 10 years. The Plan outlines the priorities and areas of activity for Partners IN Salford, a partnership of all
the key agencies and organisations in the city.
This Community Plan has been developed by Partners In Salford, through a process of scenario planning, through which partners were able to
test future scenarios and identify key drivers and imperatives for change. This process is described in more detail on page…. The vision for
Salford was developed through this process and represents the commitment of public, private and voluntary sector groups and organisations in
the city to making Salford a beautiful and welcoming city. This requires a fast pace of change, particularly around the improvement of skills for
employment, and Partners In Salford are particularly driven by the vision of a future in which all citizens are partners in the improvement of the
city.
Partners IN Salford has worked to include representatives of the public sector, private sector and the community & voluntary sector. This
Community Plan shows how all partners can contribute to achieving the shared vision for Salford, in a way that has the biggest impact in an
efficient and effective way, by working together to share problems, learn from each other and to allocate resources to areas of highest need.
Citizens of Salford are key partners in this process. Every step that one person makes towards making the vision a reality brings this great city a
step closer to achieving its dreams. And every individual has a role to play, whether in getting involved in decision making, through helping to
deliver services, through volunteering, helping a neighbour, quitting smoking or reporting a crime. These are the small steps that will ensure that
Salford becomes the city of dreams.
But this strategy is not just about things that happen within the boundaries of the city. Salford is influenced by global, national and regional
changes and must respond and drive these changes proactively and in a way that best benefits the people who live, work and invest in the city.
In order to be able to respond to changes outside Salford it is important that there is a rapid pace of change in the skills and education of those
who live and work in the city. Salford is currently below national averages for secondary school educational attainment, continuation into Higher
education at age 16, and for literacy and numeracy rates amongst the adult population. This must change, is Salford is to meet the needs and
demands of an increasingly prosperous but unequal society.
Salford is a great city, made up of strong and thriving communities, with a heritage to be proud of, cultural opportunities to enthuse, captivate
and inspire and natural landscapes in which to relax and unwind.
Regeneration of the city is driving rapid change in Salford. Partners IN Salford recognise that this can cause conflict and can result in people
losing out or not benefiting from the rapid changes. This is why partners from across the city have joined together to express their commitment
to developing and supporting sustainable communities through regeneration that is approached in a holistic manner, taking in not only physical
change, but strengthening communities, building participation, promoting economic prosperity and promoting environmental issues. Partners In
Salford is committed to strengthening existing communities and building new communities that work.
There is so much more still to be done. We all have a part to play in making Salford a beautiful and welcoming city, where the people who live,
work and invest in the city want to remain and give their commitment to Salford, and where this commitment inspires others to come to the city,
to make it their home and to invest in it socially, personally and economically.
Angie Robinson
Chair, Partners In Salford and
CEO of Manchester Chamber of Commerce
Partners Signatures
Councillor John Merry,
Deputy-Chair, Partners IN Salford and
Leader of Salford City Council
Past and present in Salford
“The city is not rejecting its flat cap and pipe puffing past. Rather it has found confidence to build a new identity upon its industrial heritage”1
Salford is a city that is gathering momentum again. There’s a very special feeling about the city today. Some of the attributes that make Salford
unique have been present for many years: the waterways, the green space, our closeness to Manchester and our strong communities; others
are emerging as Salford carves out a new identity as a home for sporting and cultural events and a centre for innovation and education.
In Salford’s 800-year history, a number of periods have shaped the city we see today.
The Industrial Revolution brought prosperity and dramatic population growth; Salford as we know it today was formed from five urban district
councils in 1974; More recently, in the 1980s and 1990s, Manchester docks and Agecroft colliery (?) closed and Salford faced an uncertain
future.
Salford is undoubtedly in the midst of another key period in its history now. Massive investment in the physical environment, coupled with a
conscious effort to alter perceptions of Salford, means that the future looks good. Repeated below.
1
The Times, 29 April 2000
Industrial Salford
The industrial revolution had an incredible effect on Salford. During the course of the 18th century, the population of the city grew by 200,000, a
rate of growth that was not equalled anywhere else in the country. Salford was renowned for its cotton industry, as well as brewing, iron and
coal mining. By the end of the 1800s, the Manchester Ship Canal, one of Victorian England’s most ambitious engineering projects, made the
docks at Salford a busy focal point for importing raw materials and exporting finished goods.
The dramatic population growth brought with it social problems and over-crowding as the burgeoning population was housed in poor quality
slums, with sometimes as many as 80 homes per acre.
Salford in the mid to late 20th century
Population density was still an issue in the city in the 1950s and 60s, the latter decade seeing new high-rise flats scattered across the city,
many of which still characterise the city’s skyline in the early 21st century. The love affair with high-rise buildings was short-lived however, and
the city’s local paper reported as soon as 1967 that some new flats could be the last of their kind built in the city.
In 1974, the five areas of Salford, Worsley, Irlam and Cadishead, Swinton and Pendlebury and Eccles came together – somewhat uneasily – to
create the city that we know today.
While this means the city is a real blend of people and places, both urban and rural, affluent and deprived, it also means that Salford has
struggled to find its true identity.
Recent history
In 1996, the city secured major funding for the Lowry, a landmark project for the arts based at Salford Quays. Twentieth century Salford was
immortalised through the paintings of LS Lowry – an industrial landscape of red brick houses and chimneys – and Lowry had a self-confessed
obsession with the appearance of the city.
Buoyed by the arts centre, Salford Quays has grown into a world-class residential, business and cultural location, featuring a watersports
centre, cinema, outlet shopping mall, bars and restaurants- [and Greater Manchester’s first million pound apartment.]
There’s exciting change all over the city. The Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company is developing the city’s core into a desirable place
to live, work and relax. Should we use the URC’s vision here?
A thriving gateway to the regional centre in historic Chapel Street has already been created. Area-based regeneration initiatives have had a
significant community-led impact and lasting legacies.
A tolerant and liberal city
Salford is undoubtedly an open-minded city and has adapted to these many and varied challenges and changes with enthusiasm. The city has
been enlightened and pioneering throughout its history.
Salford has nurtured a number of artists, politicians and humanitarians: Joseph Brotherton, Mark Addy, who, legend has it, saved over 50
people from drowning in the River Irwell, Canon Peter Green, LS Lowry, Emmeline Pankhurst, Albert Finney and Oscar-nominated film director
Mike Leigh.
The strong, creative and committed people of Salford make the city what it is. These characteristics have been harnessed during the
regeneration process to date and the Salford of the future will be created in close partnership with local people.
One of the Northwest’s best kept secrets
As the Northwest of England makes a name for itself as a destination nationally and internationally, Salford is centrally placed to take advantage of this. The
transport links to the city are excellent. It has two train stations, is easily accessible from four motorways, Manchester airport and numerous Metrolink stations.
The city has the Northwest’s first five-star hotel, the sumptuous Lowry hotel. From the hotel visitors can walk right into the heart of Manchester via Calatrava’s
landmark Trinity Bridge, a symbol of the close connection between Salford and Manchester.
In contrast to the urban east of the city, the area to the west of Salford is filled with semi-rural open space, and Salford has miles of pathways, parks and
woods and stunning lakes and reservoirs to explore.
A rosy future
Massive investment in the physical environment, coupled with a conscious effort to alter perceptions of Salford, means that the future looks positive.
There have always been strong, creative and committed people in Salford. These characteristics will be harnessed during the regeneration process and the
Salford of the future will be created in partnership with local people.
That was then, this is now…
Then
Salford’s waterways were fundamental in
bringing about economic prosperity in the late
nineteenth century. They shaped the
geography of the city and have reflected the
city’s fortunes over the years.
Key industries were coal mining, cotton and
iron.
Now
The Quays play host to everyone from
international triathletes and cross-channel
swimmers in training, to local school children
learning to canoe in the heart of the city
The Future
Bury Bolton Manchester Canal?
Revitalisation of urban waterways as key
asset of the city?
Salford is a centre for education, culture and
tourism. People come from all over the world
Knowledge Capital?
to study at the university of Salford and Hope
hospital is a major teaching hospital.
Our innovative city had the first
unconditionally free public library in Great
Britain and the first use of gas lighting in the
world
The imposing Digital World centre provides a
base for growth-orientated start up
companies and small and medium-sized
enterprises.
Developing the Community Plan
In 2004/5 partners representing key employers, private business the voluntary sector and community representatives from across the city came together to
discuss the future for the city. This was done in a structured way by using a method called ‘scenario planning’. More detail about the process can be found in
‘Scenarios for Salford’ available from Partners IN Salford (www.partnersinsalford.org). In simplified terms, stakeholder identified things that will have an impact
on the city in the next 10 years including global influences such as globalization and EU expansion, national influences such as changes in the economy, and
immigration policy, regional influences such as growth of Manchester, the Northern Way and local influences such as skills and transport. From these
influences, or ‘drivers’ it was concluded that the things which will have the biggest impact on the city in the next 10 years are the pace of change of Error!
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education and skills, and the role that citizens have to play as customers and as partners in service delivery and decision making. Stakeholders then went
through a process of deciding whether Salford would benefit from a fast, or a slow, pace of change around education and skills, and whether Salford would
priorities citizens as customers or citizens as partners. Neither is right or wrong, and the resulting ‘scenarios’ all have positive and negative
aspects. However, partners identified a fast pace of change and citizens as partners as the way forward, leading to scenario 4 and a vision for
Salford:
The Vision For Salford
“In 2015, Salford will be a beautiful and welcoming city, driven by energetic and engaged communities, of highly skilled,
healthy and motivated citizens, who have built a diverse and prosperous culture and economy which encourages and
recognises the contribution of everyone, for everyone.”
The vision will be achieved through implementation of the Community Plan, which has had input from a range of sources and partners
and influences plans that are developed across the city.
The Community Plan has been developed to reflect the priorities of local people, through alignment with the Community Action Plansi
The Community Plan focuses on 7 long term aims- called ‘Themes’
The Plan also looks at how to address 7 Imperatives, or short
term priorities
Seven Strategic Themes:
In order to deliver a fast pace of change and to enable
citizens to become partners in the process, Partners IN
Salford will focus its strategy on 7 strategic themes:
A CITY WHERE YOUNG PEOPLE ARE VALUED
A SAFE CITY
A LEARNING & CREATIVE CITY
A CITY THAT IS GOOD TO LIVE IN
There are particular issues which have been prioritised in
Salford and which must be addressed if the 7 thematic aims
are to be achieved. These are the 7
are:
Secondary School Educational Attainment
Re-skilling the Adult population
Attracting newcomers
Improving environmental sustainability
AN INCLUSIVE CITY
AN ECONOMICALY PROSPEROUS CITY
A HEALTHY CITY
Imperatives and
Reducing polarisation & Inequalities
Raising aspirations & motivations
Increasing community engagement
A profile of the city in 2015- Map showing key planned developments
 Population trends
 Key physical developments- Greengate, Chapel Street, Salford Port, Salford Reds Stadium, Hope Hospital redevelopment,
HMR housing programmes and decency standard following options appraisal

Equalities and cohesion
Partners IN Salford is working to address the social, educational and economic barriers that create inequality. All partners are committed to working actively
with communities to promote
Partners IN Salford wishes Salford to be an open and inclusive city where respect and understanding are fostered and everyone is encouraged and enabled
to live and take part in society to their full potential, free from prejudice and discrimination.
Sustainability
Partners In Salford are committed to an approach to change and regeneration in the city which is sustainable. This incorporates social,
economic and environmental issues and sees the encouragement of social cohesion and social inclusion. In Salford a priority is given to the
engagement and involvement of local people and communities as partners in the decision- making and service delivery in the city, with a
particular focus on local action through resource allocation and structures such as Neighbourhood Management.
Performance management
Partners IN Salford is committed to delivering the activities and priorities within this Community Plan.
The success of the Partnership will be measured on the achievement of the targets set out in this plan, as well as completion of actions.
Progress will be monitored by quarterly performance reports to the LSP, and the LSP will set aside one meeting a year to look at performance in detail.
Following this discussion, which will take place at the appropriate time to influence budget and decision making within each partner organisation, budgets will
be allocated as appropriate to ensure that Partners IN Salford continues to deliver the strategic priorities for the city and project activities that are efficient and
effective.
Participatory evaluations of the progress towards achieving the Community Plan will occur every 3 years.
This document can also be provided in large print, audio/ electronic and Braille formats. If
you need help in understanding this document, please contact the Equalities Team at
Salford City Council on 0161 793 3536
Electronic copies are available on:
www.salford.gov.uk/living/regeneration/communityplan or www.partnersinsalford.org.uk
If you need help in understanding this documents please contact the Equalities Team at Salford City Council on 0161 793 3536.
GLOSSARY
Community Action Plans (CAPs) are developed through the 8 Community Committees in Salford. They identify local people’s priorities for service improvement and actions
in their area. They are updated annually and feed into the decision making mechanisms of the LSP and the key delivery agencies such as the Primary Care Trsust (PCT),
Salford City Council, Greater Manchester Police and so on. You can get involved in helping to develop a Community Action Plan for where you live by contacting your local
Councillor, or by talking to the Neighbourhood Management Team
i
APPENDIX
1. Glossary of terms
2. Key performance indicators and baseline data
3. 3 Year Action Plan