Citizens Advice Bureau (Salford)

If you are looking for advice please visit our advice site www.salfordcab.org.uk

The City of Salford

The City of Salford lies west of the River Irwell, which separates us from the City of Manchester. Salford is at the heart of the country’s second largest conurbation, Greater Manchester. There are ten local authorities forming Greater Manchester, the inner authorities forming a district core, are Manchester, Salford, Tameside and Trafford. These lie in the most part within the M60 Motorway Ring. There are over 216,000 residents in Salford, with just over three million people living in the conurbation.

A very brief history of Salford

The Victorian City of Salford was expanded in the local government re-organisation of 1974 to include the townships of Eccles, Irlam, Swinton and Worsley. The old City itself saw considerable de-population after the Second World War. The effect of this was to create a new authority, which consists of a number of distinct townships, some of which are somewhat geographically isolated.

Salford was at the very heart of the industrial revolution, and of the nineteenth century economic boom. It was built along a network of extensive waterways such as the Bridgewater Canal, and the country’s first railway link would be built soon after. The final addition to this impressive transport system would be the ship canal itself, which creates the southern boundary of the City and, as the port of Manchester was a major contributor to the growth of the Victorian City.

The political tensions of a hundred years ago – (Engel’s Mill was in Pendleton, and the anti-corn law movement centred on Salford merchants) have given way to the social economic tensions of the post-industrial northern city. We are the country’s 15th poorest local authority.