There is already much to celebrate as a city - more well-paid jobs, new affordable and social homes, thriving local schools, award-winning green spaces, iconic infrastructure, cleaner transport, more integrated health and care and a vibrant cultural scene.
This plan aims to build on past successes and continue to find new and innovative ways to improve residents’ lives.
Good growth
There is little doubt that Salford has transformed in recent years. While it’s clear that Salford’s impressive growth has brought many benefits, with more highly skilled and higher paid jobs than ever before, there is still room for improvement.
It is vital we continue to take a leading role to create a more inclusive local economy by using our influence and spending power to work with local employers who are committed to giving something back to our communities. It also means ensuring local people have the skills that employers need and are better equipped to benefit from the new opportunities being created in the city.
Over the next four years we will:
- Continue to attract inward investment that is aligned with our ambitions to build a more inclusive economy
- Deliver the city’s employment and skills strategy to equip residents with the skills, training and qualifications needed to access and progress in high quality local jobs
- Support Salford’s business community to engage in more inclusive recruitment and in-work practices to provide employment and progression opportunities for under-represented groups
- Work with partners to increase the number of Accredited Living Wage employers based in the city by 10% and work towards the first-ever Living Wage High Street in Salford
- Work with the city’s other anchor institutions to ensure every pound spent in Salford is maximised for local benefit
- Invest in a wide range of projects that support inclusive growth and local community priorities
- Establish a new consultative body of key stakeholders to advise the council on its growth and regeneration plans
- Launch a new Salford Business Support Scheme to provide aspiring local entrepreneurs with enhanced advice, guidance and training opportunities
- Continue to invest in improving the city’s key infrastructure to boost transport and digital connectivity
A good home for all
Everyone in Salford deserves a decent and affordable place to call home. Salford has seen significant investment in a wide range of new homes to support the city’s growing population. While this housing boom is welcome, we know this is still a long way short of what is needed, and the city continues to have a large housing waiting list.
We must act on this and will continue to prioritise increasing the supply of decent and genuinely affordable housing in the city, particularly for the hundreds of children and families currently living in temporary accommodation, as well as for older and vulnerable adults in our community.
Over the next four years we will:
- Work with local housing providers to significantly ramp up delivery of high quality, affordable and low carbon homes
- Work with housing providers to look at ways to make better use of council owned land to build more social and mixed tenure housing
- Work closely with Homes England and GMCA to forge one of the most ambitious strategic regeneration housing partnerships in the UK
- Develop a single integrated housing function within the council to deliver better housing services for our residents and improve our ability to build new houses
- Work closely with private landlords and tenants to minimise the risk of homelessness through providing the right support at the right time
- Work with landlords to drive up housing standards in the private rented sector as part of Greater Manchester’s Good Landlord Charter
- Bring more long-term empty properties back into use through the use of new powers to charge up to a 100% premium on council tax
- Ensure new housing and commercial developments meet net zero standards, while working with partners to improve the energy efficiency of existing homes through retrofitting
Tackling poverty and inequality
Salford is seen as a leader in placing poverty prevention and reduction at the heart of everything we do as a city. We’re immensely proud of all that we have achieved over the past few years to boost local household incomes and have continued to invest in essential services that directly support the most vulnerable.
However, in a city where more than a third of children live in poverty, we know more needs to be done to ensure that everyone has the chance to live prosperous and fulfilling lives, and it is clear the council cannot do this alone.
Over the next four years we will:
- Continue to protect and invest in essential frontline and community-led services that directly support people to maximise their household income
- Work closely with Salford Poverty Truth Commission to continue to listen and learn from people
- Work with partners to ensure poverty prevention and reduction remains at the heart of everything we do in the city
- Support more people into good quality work (and not just any work) by providing intensive and personalised support to address barriers to work
- Work with partners to increase the number of Accredited Real Living Wage employers based in Salford to ensure more local people are paid fairly
- Improve access to childcare for low income households through promotion of free early education and childcare places
- Ensure consideration of poverty and disadvantage remains a central part of council decision making, alongside wider equality impact considerations
- Support Salford Credit Union to expand access to affordable credit and savings to those excluded from mainstream banking
Creating places where people want to live
Salford is a city that prides itself on its rich cultural heritage and vibrant towns and neighbourhoods – each with their own unique identity. It is home to beautiful award-winning green spaces, diverse communities, excellent transport links, and world-class cultural, creative and sporting facilities.
Significant investment will continue to be made over the next few years to create quality local places and spaces where people want to live, work, invest and visit. This includes ensuring all our neighbourhoods and town centres are attractive, safe, healthy and accessible.
Over the next four years we will:
- Work with local communities to bring forward a new long-term plan for the regeneration of Eccles town centre
- Continue to improve the attractiveness and safety of local neighbourhoods through reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, and investing in public realm, digital connectivity and transport improvements
- Work with Salford Culture and Place Partnership to deliver a high-quality creative and cultural offer across the city
- Continue our commitment to support Salford’s armed forces community
- Enhance the lives and health of communities through provision of world-class sporting and leisure opportunities
- Continue to invest in quality green infrastructure
- Increase opportunities for residents to play a more active role in their local area
- Increase collaboration with the city’s thriving voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector
- Combat fly-tipping through establishing a new crackdown team working closely with community litter groups along with the revaluation of bulk-waste charges
A child friendly city
All children and young people in Salford deserve to have the best start in life, and we are incredibly proud that the council’s services for children and families have been recognised by Ofsted for the significant improvements made in recent years.
Working towards becoming a Unicef Child Friendly City means making Salford a great place for children and young people to grow up and feel safe, cared for, heard and have quality opportunities to learn, work and play.
Over the next four years we will:
- Ensure we always consider the impact of our services on children and young people as part of council decision making
- Develop new ways of integrating neighbourhood services to better support families and children who need help
- Continue to work closely with local schools to ensure all Salford children have access to the highest quality education
- Continue to promote the voices of young people in shaping the services they use
- Work with partners to prevent youth offending and re-offending and ensure that all children and young people are protected and feel safe in their community
- Continue to develop council staff and councillors in their role as a corporate parent
- Raise literacy levels for children (and adults) in the city, including establishing a new Salford Literacy Hub and providing free books
- Implement a city-wide attendance strategy to promote and increase regular attendance at school
Responding to climate change
Salford is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2038. The council is already doing many things to reduce its carbon footprint, including opening a solar farm, electrifying our vehicle fleet and hosting an e-scooter trial. Other initiatives across the city that are helping towards the carbon neutral target include Europe’s biggest living green wall on the Eden building, TfGM’s introduction of more electric buses and social housing providers building more low carbon homes.
We will continue to take a leading role in ensuring Salford is taking steps to reduce its carbon emissions and is as resilient and adaptive as possible to the effects of climate change. Everyone has a key role to play and by taking practical steps now, we are acting in the best interests of current and future generations.
Over the next four years we will:
- Continue to remove carbon emissions from the city council’s operations
- Incorporate our commitment to becoming carbon net zero in all council decision making and through the goods and services we purchase
- Support Salford residents to reduce their carbon footprint
- Work with local businesses to ensure they play their part in supporting Salford to becoming a net zero city
- Invest in the city’s vital green spaces to support biodiversity including the planting of 8,000 new trees by 2028
- Raise awareness and encourage residents to make greener choices through the Greener Salford campaign
- Commit to become a carbon literate organisation and work towards achieving the Silver Award level of carbon literacy trained staff
Healthy lives and quality care for all
We want everyone in Salford to live longer, healthier and happier lives. While good progress has been made in recent years, particularly with the integration of health and social care services ushering in a new era of joined-up care in the city, the fact remains that too many people in Salford aren't living as long as the most well off in society and spend longer living with ill-health.
Promoting good health is everyone’s business. By building on the strengths and assets of local communities and recognising cultural differences, we can do more tackle the causes of ill-health and support more people to live in good health for longer, and as independently as possible.
Over the next four years we will:
- Review all models of care in Salford and how people are receiving care, with a clear commitment to bringing Aspire back in-house within 12 months
- Strengthen our Marmot City approach to build on existing system-wide partnerships that focus on the wider social determinants of health
- Provide a choice of high-quality care and support options
- Continue to improve integrated neighbourhood working to deliver better health and care outcomes in each neighbourhood area
- Strengthen the role and impact of early help and ill-health prevention
- Work with partners to improve provision and access to mental health support services
- Promote and support the importance of carers in Salford and provide opportunities for them to look after their own health and wellbeing
- Work towards implementing Unison’s Ethical Care Charter to support the improvement of home care services and employment conditions of care workers
Watch this video for a British Sign language version about our corporate plan.
Download the ‘This is our Salford – Corporate Plan 2024 to 2028’ below to read the plan in full or the plan on a page for an overview.