Our vision of an economically prosperous city

We aim to ensure that Salford is a world class city which offers a rich mix of employment, business and investment opportunities and which plays its part in less traditional economies which create and trade in knowledge. Salford will be a city where all residents have the chance to participate in and benefit from the sustainable development of the city, all residents have the right skills to access good jobs and all residents have the desire to work. of an economically prosperous city.

Employment domain

Why it’s important

It has long been recognised that work (and opportunities to work) have a significant impact on our ability to break the cycle of deprivation for families and individuals. Salford is a city with massive opportunity and we need to ensure that every person and every neighbourhood can benefit, both in times of economic hardship and prosperity. We must ensure that as a partnership we can face the challenges that come with recession whilst also striving for increasing prosperity, employment and opportunity.

Where we are now

According to the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007 as shown by the map on the next page, Salford is the fourth most deprived local authority area in Greater Manchester in terms of both income and employment.

The concentration of people who do not work is particularly high in 11 wards of the city, which have been designated priority wards under the Greater Manchester City Strategy Pathfinder. Within these wards there are small areas where significant concentrations (more than 25%) of people are dependent on out-of-work benefits.

The figures below demonstrate the scale of the challenge across Salford:

In 2008, 17.9% of the working age population in Salford were claiming out of work benefits, the second highest rate in Greater Manchester.
In 2008, approximately 11% of the working age population in Salford were in receipt of Incapacity Benefit, the highest rate in Greater Manchester.

However, Salford is also an expanding economy with huge opportunities such as MediaCityUK, from which local people must benefit:

Between 1998 and 2006, the employment growth rate in Salford was 12.7%, a growth of 12,845 jobs and the second highest rate in Greater Manchester.
Between 1992 and 2006, the rate of growth in Gross Value Added per head in Salford exceeded both the North West and the United Kingdom rates; in fact by 2006, the gap between Salford’s growth rate and that of the North West was 35%.

Our approach to creating an economically prosperous city will be about ensuring equality of opportunity for Salford residents and creating pathways into work and training for the most vulnerable and isolated residents. We will work with our partners across Salford and Greater Manchester to ensure that Salford residents benefit from investment in our city and our city region, the growth of our economy and that all residents can share in the city’s rising aspirations.

We will connect people to opportunities by ensuring that they have the right skills to access good jobs, and by taking new and innovative approaches to engagement which change individuals’ and families’ attitudes to work as well as employers’ perceptions of Salford residents. We will take seriously the role of the public sector to mentor and create pathways to work for those individuals who are most at risk of worklessness or poverty, for example those people who are managing long-term health conditions. Simultaneously we will strive to ensure an environment that is attractive to both new and existing employees and employers.

Our approach will take both a short and long term view of economic prosperity, which can cope with changing economic climates and new challenges.

Local Development Framework

Our Local Development Framework can support the delivery of our vision of an economically prosperous city through planning policies which:

promote a diverse range of employment opportunities
put the right transport infrastructure and connections in place, both within and outside of the city
support the development of MediaCityUK
promote regeneration schemes and maximise the city’s potential
encourage developers to work with training providers, schools and the college to make the links between development and education
realise the potential of our heritage and tourism assets.