Manchester

Introduction

Historically Manchester was at the forefront of the 19th century industrial revolution, and was a leading centre for manufacturing, particularly cotton. Now the city has switched to a mainly service-based economy with many financial institutions based in the city including the Manchester Building Society and the Co-operative Bank. The Co-operative Group, which is the world's largest consumer-owned business, is based in Manchester and is one of the city's biggest employers. The city is a growing centre for business and has recently been ranked both as the best place, and the third best place to do business in the UK.

After the 1996 bombing, Manchester's city centre undergoing extensive regeneration. New and renovated complexes such as The Printworks and the Triangle have become popular shopping and entertainment destinations and the Manchester Arndale is the UK's largest city centre shopping mall.

Recent Visits

29th January - Jacqui Smith met with young people representing the Regional Youth Forum, and drawn from Young Parliament members from across the North West

2nd February - Beverley Hughes visited staff and customers at Job Centre Plus in Newton Heath on 2 February following the third meeting of the Joint Economic Commission for the North West

Demographics for Manchester

Mid-2007 Population Estimates

Figures updated annually. Last update February 2009. Source: Office for National Statistics.

Children and Learners

• The Anson Cabin Project, Longsight has secured nearly £200,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Playful Ideas programme
• £191m has been approved for phase one of the Building Schools for the Future 2006-07, for the re-building and re-modelling of 23 high schools over the next five years, including the building of six brand new schools.  
• Young people in Manchester will benefit from a share of nearly £400,000 from the Big Lottery Fund to support the Young Peoples Project addressing political and racial tensions across the city.

Health and Well Being

• Manchester plan to launch their Alcohol Strategy (2008-2011) on 29th September 2008.
• The Manchester Primary Care Trust (PCT) was formed on 1 October 2006 following the merger of Central Manchester PCT, North Manchester PCT and South Manchester PCT.
• The health of people in Manchester is generally worse than the England average, including teenage pregnancy and estimates of adults who smoke and binge drink. ]
• Under the proposals in the ‘Making it Better’ review, a new £25m maternity and children’s unit centre will be developed in North Manchester. However, this has been delayed for a year and will not open until spring 2010
• A £25m maternity and children’s unit will be developed at North Manchester General Hospital and will open in spring 2010.
• Withington Community Hospital has a one-stop gynaecological consultation service which is one of 30 pilot schemes nationwide for the ‘Care Closer to Home’ project, providing NHS services closer to where people work and live and avoiding lengthy and unnecessary hospital stays. 
• Withington Community Hospital's one-stop gynae consultation service is one of 30 pilot schemes nationwide for the Care Closer to Home Project, providing NHS services closer to where people work and live and avoiding lengthy and unnecessary hospital stays.
• Manchester PCT is looking to open three new GP practices and a GP-led health centre. Longsight, Levenshulme and Morston are the locations for the GP practices, each with a capacity to have at least 6,000 registered patients. The GP-led health centre is to be based in the city centre with service commencement date of 1 April 2009.
• The Manchester Mental Health and Social Care NHS Trust faced challenging staff relations in 2007 following a public consultation on changes to services and the dismissal of a staff member for gross personal misconduct.
• The staff member concerned was dismissed on the grounds of gross personal misconduct on 5 November 2007. The dismissal was later upheld on appeal. A period of continuous strike action started on 8 November 2007 and involved up to 160 staff in community mental health services. The Trust had prepared detailed contingency plans and was able to continue to provide care and support to clients. Following negotiations between the Trust and Unison, the strike action was suspended on 14 December 2007.
• The Greater Manchester Medicines Management Group has said of the case: ‘In the absence of National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance we commissioned a rigorous review of these drugs, from a nationally recognised centre of pharmaceutical expertise which concluded that the drugs are not clinically effective in relation to their very high cost, and therefore our advice to Greater Manchester PCTs is that they should not be funded’.

Crime

• Following a recent review, The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse have formally recognised the progress Manchester is making in providing quality drug treatment across the borough.
•  Manchester launched their Crime Reduction Strategy (2008-2011) on 4th August 2008.
• Manchester has been named as one of 40 priority Respect Action Areas in England, for being a Council who has a strong record in tackling anti-social behaviour.
• The Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) has launched a series of Respect Action Weeks which aim to maximise the effectiveness of the CDRP at a neighbourhood level in tackling local issues, reducing crime and disorder and to involve and reassure local people.
• Recruitment is underway to employ a further 191 Police Community Support Officers in the Manchester North, South and Metropolitan Basic Command Units. They will be deployed in Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
• Manchester will receive around £2.2m in LAA area based grant for 2008/09 to tackle crime, reduce harm caused by illegal drugs, address anti-social behaviour and improve the poor conditions of streets and other public spaces.
• A Community Safety Co-ordinator has been appointed for the City Centre
• Manchester has been allocated £2.9m funding for its Drug Intervention Programme (DIP) in 2008/09
• Young People Substance Misuse Grant (YPSMG) allocation totals £883k for 2008/09.
• The anti-social behaviour theme group has been allocated nearly £650,000 of Neighbourhood Renewal Funding to run the anti-social behaviour improvement project.

Transport

• Greater Manchester Authorities are currently considering how they intend to move forward following the referendum decision not to proceed with the Transport Infrastructure Fund (TIF) bid.  Proposals that have been put to Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) include a 50% topslice of Local Transport funding and prudential borrowing.  Department for Transport (DfT) has agreed to the NW region’s request that AGMA can provide supplementary Regional Funding Advice on its transport priorities by April.  This advice will be informed by a thorough review of the economic benefits of all non-committed schemes and their contribution to the GVA of the region.
• Nearly £9m under the Local Transport Capital Expenditure Settlement for 2007/08, including over £1.5m towards small scale works relating to the South East Manchester Multi Modal Study and over £3.5m for maintenance.
• As part of the £520m agreed for Metrolink extensions, the July 2006 announcement provides £244m funding in addition to the previous £200m contribution. Approval has been granted to start planned extensions to Oldham, Rochdale and Chorlton within two years. Phase 1 track replacement of £32m works completed summer 2007, Phase 2, £25.7m announced for non track renewals in February 2008. The summer programme is underway and should be complete by mid September.
• Manchester will benefit from the £627,000 awarded from the Congestion Performance Fund to monitor and tackle congestion on its highways.
• Manchester City allocated over £32m in the ‘Three Year Local Transport Capital Expenditure Settlement 2008/09-22010/11’ for Integrated Transport and Highway Capital Maintenance works.
• As part of the £520m agreed for Metrolink extensions, the July 2006 announcement provides £244m funding in addition to the previous £200m contribution. Approval has been granted to start planned extensions to Oldham, Rochdale and Chorlton within two years. Phase 1 track replacement of £32m works completed summer 2007, Phase 2, £25.7m announced for non track renewals in February 2008. The summer programme is underway and should be complete by the end of the year.
  

Social Inclusion and Regeneration
 

• £108m has been awarded for 2001-06, and a further £61m for 2006-08 through the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, to help the local authority and their partners to begin improving services in the most deprived neighbourhoods.
• Manchester is receiving nearly £26m in Working Neighbourhoods Funding in 2008/09. This replaces Neighbourhood Renewal funding from April 2008. 
• Over £52m has been allocated for 1999-2010 through New Deal for Communities in East Manchester, to bridge the gap between the poorest members of the region and the rest of Britain.
• £125m has been awarded over three years for Housing Market Renewal Initiative Pathfinders for Manchester and Salford to tackle low housing demand and abandonment, and to create sustainable communities.

European Funding

• £58m has been awarded to New East Manchester Urban Regeneration Company towards the regeneration of 1,100 hectares of land. Investments include Central Park, Fujitsu’s new head office and the £20m Manchester New Technology Institute.
• £20m was allocated to the Manchester North & South partnership, supporting projects across Manchester, including £5m for the Wythenshawe Forum community centre.
• £5m has been allocated for a joint initiative with Salford supporting projects across both cities, including a £3m alley-gating initiative in the Newton Heath area of Manchester.

Source: Office for National Statistics. Last updated 23 June 2009 

Internet links

• Neighbourhood Statistics
• Regional Snapshot