Greater Manchester.html |
| | | ca | | | de | | | en | | | es | | | fr | | | it | | | nl | | | no | | | pl | | | pt | | | ru | | | ro | | | fi | | | sv | | | tr | | | vo | | |
| |  |
| Greater Manchester | |
|---|---|
 Shown within England |
|
| Geography | |
| Status | Metropolitan county & Ceremonial county |
| Origin | 1 April 19741 (Local Government Act 1972) |
| Region | North West England |
| Area - Total |
Ranked 39th 1,276 km² (493 sq mi) |
| ONS code | 2A |
| NUTS 2 | UKD3 |
| Demography | |
| Population - Total (2007) - Density |
Ranked 3rd 2,562,200 1,997/km² (5,172/sq mi) |
| Ethnicity | 88.9% White 6.5% S.Asian 1.7% Black 1.6% Mixed Race 1.3% E. Asian and Other |
| Politics | |
| No county council since 1986. | |
| Executive | |
| Members of Parliament |
List of Greater Manchester MPs |
| Metropolitan Boroughs | |
 |
|
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.56 million.2 It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the cities of Salford and Manchester. Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972.1
Greater Manchester is landlocked and borders Cheshire (to the south-west and south), Derbyshire (to the south-east), West Yorkshire (to the north-east), Lancashire (to the north) and Merseyside (to the west). The Greater Manchester Urban Area is the third most populous conurbation in the UK, and spans across most of the county's territory. As a ceremonial county, Greater Manchester has a Lord Lieutenant and a High Sheriff.
Greater Manchester County Council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) are now effectively unitary authority areas; however, the metropolitan county, which is some 496 square miles (1,285 km2),3 continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference.4 Several county-wide services are co-ordinated through the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities.
Before the creation of the metropolitan county the name SELNEC was used for the area, taken from the initials of "South East Lancashire North East Cheshire". Greater Manchester is an amalgamation of 70 former local government districts from the former administrative counties of Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire, West Riding and eight independent county boroughs.5
Contents |
History
- See also: History of Manchester
Origins
Although the modern county of Greater Manchester was not created until 1974, the history of its constituent settlements and parts goes back centuries. There is evidence of Iron Age inhabitation, particularly at Mellor,6 and Celtic activity in a settlement named Chochion, believed to have been an area of Wigan settled by the Brigantes.7 Stretford was also part of the land believed to have been occupied by the Celtic Brigantes tribe, and lay on their border with the Cornovii on the southern side of the River Mersey.8 The remains of 1st-century forts at Castlefield in Manchester,9 and Castleshaw Roman fort in Saddleworth,10 are evidence of Roman occupation. Much of the region was omitted from the Domesday Book of 1086; Redhead states that this was because only a partial survey was taken, rather than sparsity of population.11
During the Middle Ages, much of what became Greater Manchester lay within the hundred of Salfordshire – an ancient division of the county of Lancashire. Salfordshire encompassed several parishes and townships, some of which, like Rochdale, were important market towns and centres of England's woollen trade. The development of what became Greater Manchester is attributed to a shared tradition of domestic flannel and fustian cloth production, which encouraged a system of cross-regional trade.121314 The Industrial Revolution transformed the local domestic system, and much of Greater Manchester's heritage is related to textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution and the infrastructure that grew up to support this sector.14 The townships in and around Manchester began expanding "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century as part of a process of unplanned urbanisation brought on by a boom in textile processing.15 Places such as Bury, Oldham and Bolton played a central economic role in the nation, and by the end of the 19th century had become some of the most important and productive mill towns in the world.16 Due to its commercial and socioeconomic success, the need for local government and geo-administrative change in what is now Greater Manchester was proposed as early as the 1910s.17
By the 18th century, traders from Germany had coined the name Manchesterthum, meaning "Greater Manchester", and were using that as a name for the region in and around Manchester.18 However, the English term "Greater Manchester" did not appear until the start of the 20th century. One of its first known recorded uses was in a 1914 report put forward in response to what was considered to have been the successful creation of the County of London in 1889. The report suggested that a county should be set up to recognise the "Manchester known in commerce", and referred to the areas that formed "a substantial part of South-Lancashire and part of Cheshire, comprising all municipal boroughs and minor authorities within a radius of eight or nine miles of Manchester".1719 In his 1915 book Cities In Evolution, innovative urban planner Sir Patrick Geddes wrote "far more than Lancashire realises, is growing up another Greater London".20
.png)
Conurbations in England tend to build-up at the historic county boundaries21 and Greater Manchester is no exception. Most of Greater Manchester lay within the ancient county boundaries of Lancashire; those areas south of the Mersey and Tame were in Cheshire. The Saddleworth area and a small part of Mossley are historically part of Yorkshire and in the south-east a small part in Derbyshire. The areas that were incorporated into Greater Manchester in 1974 previously formed parts of the administrative counties of Cheshire, Lancashire, the West Riding of Yorkshire and of eight independent county boroughs.5 By the early 1970s, this system of demarcation was described as "archaic" and "grossly inadequate to keep pace both with the impact of motor travel, and with the huge increases in local government responsibilities".22
The Manchester Evening Chronicle brought to the fore the issue of "regional unity" for the area in April 1935 under the headline "Greater Manchester – The Ratepayers' Salvation". It reported on the "increasing demands for the exploration of the possibilities of a greater merger of public services throughout Manchester and the surrounding municipalities".23 The issue was frequently discussed by civic leaders in the area at that time, particularly those from Manchester and Salford. The Mayor of Salford pledged his support to the idea, stating that he looked forward to the day when "there would be a merging of the essential services of Manchester, Salford, and the surrounding districts constituting Greater Manchester."23 Proposals were halted by the Second World War, though in the decade after it, the pace of proposals for local government reform for the area quickened.24 In 1947, Lancashire County Council proposed a three "ridings" system to meet the changing needs of the county of Lancashire, including those for Manchester and surrounding districts.24 Other proposals included the creation of a Manchester County Council, a directly elected regional body. In 1951, the census in the UK began reporting on South-East Lancashire as a homogeneous conurbation.24
Redcliffe-Maud Report
- Further information: Redcliffe-Maud Report
The Local Government Act 1958 designated the south east Lancashire area (which, despite its name, included part of north east Cheshire), a Special Review Area. The Local Government Commission for England presented draft recommendations, in December 1965, proposing a new county based on the conurbation surrounding and including Manchester, with nine most-purpose boroughs corresponding to the modern Greater Manchester boroughs (excluding Wigan). The review was abolished in favour of the Royal Commission on Local Government before issuing a final report.25
The Royal Commission's 1969 report, known as the Redcliffe-Maud Report, proposed the removal of much of the then existing system of local government. The commission described the system of administering urban and rural districts separately as outdated, noting that urban areas provided employment and services for rural dwellers, and open countryside was used by town dwellers for recreation. The commission considered interdependence of areas at many levels, including travel-to-work, provision of services, and which local newspapers were read, before proposing a new administrative metropolitan area.26 The area had roughly the same northern boundary as today's Greater Manchester (though included Rossendale), but covered much more territory from Cheshire (including Macclesfield, Warrington, Alderley Edge, Northwich, Middlewich, Wilmslow and Lymm), and Derbyshire (the towns of New Mills, Whaley Bridge, Glossop and Chapel-en-le-Frith – a minority report suggested that Buxton be included).27 The metropolitan area was to be divided into nine metropolitan districts, based on Wigan, Bolton, Bury/Rochdale, Warrington, Manchester (including Salford and Old Trafford), Oldham, Altrincham, Stockport and Tameside.27 The report noted "The choice even of a label of convenience for this metropolitan area is difficult".28 Seven years earlier, a survey prepared for the British Association intended to define the "South-East Lancashire conurbation" noted that "Greater Manchester it is not [...] One of its main characteristics is the marked individuality of its towns, [...] all of which have an industrial and commercial history of more than local significance".29 The term Selnec (or SELNEC) was already in use as an abbreviation for south east Lancashire and north east Cheshire; Redcliffe-Maud took this as "the most convenient term available", having modified it to south east Lancashire, north east and central Cheshire.27 Following the Transport Act 1968, in 1969 the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive (an authority to co-ordinate and operate public transport in the region) was set up, covering an area smaller than the proposed Selnec, and different again to the eventual Greater Manchester. Compared with the Redcliffe-Maud area, it excluded Macclesfield, Warrington, and Knutsford but included Glossop and Saddleworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It excluded Wigan, which was in both the Redcliffe-Maud area and in the eventual Greater Manchester (but had not been part of the 1958 act's review area).30
Redcliffe-Maud's recommendations were accepted by the Labour-controlled Government in February 1970.31 Although the Redcliffe-Maud Report was rejected by the Conservative government after the 1970 general election, there was a commitment to local government reform, and the need for a metropolitan county centred on the conurbation surrounding Manchester was accepted. The new government's original proposal was much smaller than the Redcliffe-Maud Report's Selnec, with areas such as Warrington, Winsford, Northwich, Knutsford, Macclesfield and Glossop retained by their original counties to ensure their county councils had enough revenue to remain competitive (Cheshire County Council would have ceased to exist).31 Other late changes included the separation of the proposed Bury/Rochdale authority (retained from the Redcliffe-Maud report) into the Metropolitan Borough of Bury and the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. Bury and Rochdale were originally planned to form a single district (dubbed "Botchdale" by local MP Michael Fidler)3233 but were divided into separate boroughs. To re-balance the districts, the borough of Rochdale took Middleton from Oldham.34 During the passage of the bill, the towns of Whitworth, Wilmslow and Poynton successfully objected to their incorporation in the new county.31
.png)
After 1974
.jpg)
The Local Government Act 1972 reformed local government in England by creating a system of two-tier metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties and districts throughout the country.35 The act formally established Greater Manchester on 1 April 1974, although Greater Manchester County Council had been running since elections in 1973.37 The leading article in The Times on the day the Local Government Act came into effect noted that the "new arrangement is a compromise which seeks to reconcile familiar geography which commands a certain amount of affection and loyalty, with the scale of operations on which modern planning methods can work effectively".38 Frangopulo noted that the creation of Greater Manchester "was the official unifying of a region which, through history and tradition, had forged for itself over many centuries bonds [...] between the communities of town and village, each of which was the embodiment of the character of this region".39 The name Greater Manchester was decided by Her Majesty's Government, having been favoured over Selnec by the local population.40
By January 1974, a joint working party representing Greater Manchester had drawn up its county Structure Plan, ready for implementation by the Greater Manchester County Council. The plan set out strategic and long-term objectives for the forthcoming metropolitan county.41 The highest priority was to increase the quality of life for its inhabitants by way of improving the county's physical environment and cultural facilities which had suffered following deindustrialisation. Other objectives were to reverse the trend of depopulation in central-Greater Manchester, to invest in the county's country parks to improve the region's poor reputation on leisure and recreational facilities, and to improve the county's transport infrastructure and journey to work patterns.42 The Greater Manchester Exhibition Centre (better known as the G-Mex centre and now branded Manchester Central) was a converted former railway station in Manchester City Centre used for cultural events.43
Unlike most other modern counties (including Merseyside and Tyne and Wear), Greater Manchester was never adopted as a postal county by the Royal Mail. A review in 1973 noted that "Greater Manchester" would be unlikely to be adopted because of confusion with the Manchester post town.44 And so the component areas of Greater Manchester held on to their pre-1974 postal counties until 1996, when they were abolished.45
A decade after they were established, the mostly Labour-controlled metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council (GLC) had several high profile clashes with the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher, with regards overspending and high rates charging. Government policy on the issue was considered throughout 1982, and the Conservative Party put a "promise to scrap the metropolitan county councils" and the GLC, in their manifesto for the 1983 general election.46 Greater Manchester County Council was abolished on 31 March 1986 under the Local Government Act 1985. That the metropolitan county councils were controlled by the Labour Party led to accusations that their abolition was motivated by party politics: the general secretary of the National Association of Local Government Officers described it as a "completely cynical manoeuvre".47 Most of the functions of the Greater Manchester County Council were devolved to the ten Greater Manchester metropolitan district councils, though some functions such as emergency services and public transport were taken over by joint boards and continued to be run on a county-wide basis. The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) was established to continue much of the county-wide services of the county council.48 The metropolitan county continues to exist in law, and as a geographic frame of reference,4 for example as a NUTS 2 administrative division for statistical purposes within the European Union.49 Although having been a Lieutenancy area since 1974, Greater Manchester was included as a ceremonial county by the Lieutenancies Act 1997 on 1 July 1997.50
In 1998, the people of Greater London voted in a referendum in favour of establishing a new Greater London Authority, with mayor and an elected chamber for the county.51 The New Local Government Network proposed the creation of a new Manchester City Region based on Greater Manchester and other metropolitan counties as part of on-going reform efforts, while a report released by the Institute for Public Policy Research's Centre for Cities has proposed the creation of two large city regions based on Manchester and Birmingham. In July 2007, The Treasury published its Review of sub-national economic development and regeneration, which stated that the government would allow those city regions that wished to work together to form a statutory framework for city regional activity, including powers over transport, skills, planning and economic development.52 In January 2008, AGMA suggested that a formal government structure be created to cover the whole city region.53 The issue resurfaced in June 2008 with regards to proposed congestion charging in Greater Manchester; Sir Richard Leese (leader of Manchester City Council) said "I've come to the conclusion that [a referendum on congestion charging should be held] because we don't have an indirectly or directly elected body for Greater Manchester that has the power to make this decision".54 On 14 July 2008 the ten local authorities in Greater Manchester agreed to a strategic and integrated cross-county Multi-Area Agreement; a voluntary initiative aimed at making district councils "work together to challenge the artificial limits of boundaries" in return for greater autonomy from "Whitehall".55 A referendum on the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund (TiF) is to be held in December 2008.56
Geography
Greater Manchester is a landlocked county spanning 492.7 square miles (1,276 km²). The Pennines rise along the eastern side of the county, through parts of Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside. The West Pennine Moors, as well as a number of coalfields (mainly sandstones and shales) lie in the west of the county. The rivers Mersey and Tame run through the county boundaries, both of which rise in the Pennines. Other rivers run through the county, including the Beal, the Douglas and the Irk. Black Chew Head is the highest point of Greater Manchester, rising 1,778 feet (542 m) above sea-level, within the parish of Saddleworth.57 Chat Moss at 10.6 square miles (27 km2) comprises the largest area of prime farmland in Greater Manchester and contains the largest block of semi-natural woodland in the county.58
There is a mix of high density urban areas, suburbs, semi-rural and rural locations in Greater Manchester, but overwhelmingly the land use in the county is urban.59 It has a strong regional central business district, formed by Manchester City Centre and the adjoining parts of Salford and Trafford. However, Greater Manchester is also a polycentric county with ten metropolitan districts,59 each of which has a major town centre – and in some cases more than one – and many smaller settlements. Greater Manchester is arguably the most complex urban area in the UK outside London,59 and this is reflected in the density of its transport network and the scale of its needs for investment to meet the growing and diverse movement demands generated by its development pattern.
The table below outlines many of the county's settlements, and is formatted according to their metropolitan borough.
The Greater Manchester Urban Area is an area of land defined by the Office for National Statistics consisting of the large conurbation surrounding and including the City of Manchester. Its territory spans much, but not all of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. It excludes settlements such as Wigan and Marple from the Greater Manchester county boundaries (Wigan itself forming the Wigan Urban Area), but includes some settlements which are outside of the county boundaries, such as Wilmslow and Alderley Edge in Cheshire, and Whitworth in Lancashire. Although neither the Greater Manchester county, nor the Greater Manchester Urban Area have been granted city status in the United Kingdom, European Union literature suggests that the conurbation surrounding Manchester constitutes a homogonous urban city region.60
Climate
Greater Manchester experiences a temperate maritime climate, like most of the British Isles, with relatively cool summers and mild winters. The county's average annual rainfall is 806.6 millimetres (31.76 in)61 compared to the UK average of 1,125.0 millimetres (44.29 in),62 and its mean rain days are 140.4 mm (5.53 in) per annum,61 compared to the UK average of 154.4 mm (6.08 in).62 The mean temperature is slightly above average for the United Kingdom.63 Greater Manchester also has a relatively high humidity level, which lent itself to the optimised and breakage-free textile manufacturing which took place around the county. Snowfall is not a common sight in the built up areas, due to the urban warming effect. However, the Pennine and Rossendale Forest hills around the eastern and northern edges of the county receive more snow, and roads leading out of the county can be closed due to heavy snowfall,64 notably the A62 road via Standedge, the A57 (Snake Pass) towards Sheffield,65 and the M62 over Saddleworth Moor.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg high °C (°F) | 6.4 (43.5) | 6.6 (43.9) | 8.9 (48.0) | 11.6 (52.9) | 15.3 (59.5) | 18.2 (64.8) | 19.6 (67.3) | 19.5 (67.1) | 17.0 (62.6) | 13.7 (56.7) | 9.1 (48.4) | 7.1 (44.8) | |
| Avg low temperature °C (°F) | 1.3 (34.3) | 1.2 (34.2) | 2.5 (36.5) | 4.3 (39.7) | 7.3 (45.1) | 10.2 (50.4) | 12.0 (53.6) | 11.9 (53.4) | 10.0 (50.0) | 7.5 (45.5) | 3.6 (38.5) | 2.0 (35.6) | |
| Mean Total Rainfall mm | 69 | 50 | 61 | 51 | 61 | 67 | 65 | 79 | 74 | 77 | 78 | 78 | |
| Mean Number of Rainy Days | 18.2 | 13.1 | 15.6 | 14.4 | 15.1 | 14.4 | 13.6 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 16.5 | 17.0 | 17.4 | |
| Source: Worldweather.org taken between 1971 and 2000 at the Met Office weather station at Manchester Airport. | |||||||||||||
Governance
- See also: List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater Manchester, List of civil parishes in Greater Manchester, and High Sheriff of Greater Manchester
.jpg)
Greater Manchester is divided into 28 parliamentary constituencies – 18 borough constituencies and 10 county constituencies. Most of Greater Manchester is controlled by the Labour party, and is generally considered a Labour stronghold,6667 with only four constituencies (since the 2005 General Election) belonging to the Liberal Democrats, and one constituency to the Conservative party. Local governance in Greater Manchester is currently provided by the councils of ten districts, known as metropolitan boroughs, these are: Bolton, Bury, the City of Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, the City of Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan.
Eight of the ten metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester are named after the eight former county boroughs that now compose the largest centres of population and greater historical and political prominence.68 As an example, the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is centred on the town of Stockport, a former county borough, but includes other smaller settlements, such as Cheadle, Gatley, and Bramhall.68 The names of two of the metropolitan boroughs were given a neutral name because, at the time they were created, there was no agreement on the town to be put forward as the administrative centre and neither had a county borough. These boroughs are Tameside and Trafford, centred on Ashton-under-Lyne and Stretford, respectively, and are named with reference to geographical and historical origins.68
For the first 12 years after the county was created in 1974, the county had a two-tier system of local government, and the metropolitan borough councils shared power with the Greater Manchester County Council.69 The Greater Manchester County Council, a strategic authority running regional services such as transport, strategic planning, emergency services and waste disposal, comprised 106 members drawn from the ten metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester.70 However in 1986, along with the five other metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council, the Greater Manchester County Council was abolished, and most of its powers were devolved to the boroughs.69 Various civil parishes exist in certain parts of Greater Manchester.
Although the county council, which was based in what is now Westminster House off Piccadilly Gardens, has been abolished, a number of local government functions take place at the county level. The ten authorities of Greater Manchester co-operate through the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA), which meets to create a co-ordinated county-wide approach to many issues. The AGMA funds some county-wide bodies such as the Greater Manchester County Record Office. Through the AGMA, the ten authorities of Greater Manchester co-operate on many policy issues, including county-wide Local Transport Plans.71 Some local services are provided county-wide, administered by statutory joint boards. These are Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, (GMPTE) which is responsible for planning and co-ordinating public transport across the county; the Greater Manchester Police, who are overseen by a joint Police authority; the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, who are administered by a joint "Fire and Rescue Authority"; and the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority. These joint boards are made up of councillors appointed from each of the ten boroughs (except the Waste Disposal Authority, which does not include the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan). The ten boroughs jointly own the Manchester Airport Group which controls Manchester Airport and three other UK airports. Other services are directly funded and managed by the local councils.72
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county with its own Lord-Lieutenant who is the personal representative of the monarch. The Local Government Act 1972 provided that the whole of the area to be covered by the new metropolitan county of Greater Manchester would also be included in the Duchy of Lancaster – extending the duchy to include areas which were formerly in the counties of Cheshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. Until 31 March 2005, Greater Manchester's Keeper of the Rolls was appointed by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; they are now appointed by the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.73 The first Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester was Sir William Downward who held the title from 1974 to 1988.74 The current Lord Lieutenant is Warren James Smith.75 As a geographic county, Greater Manchester is used by the government (via the Office for National Statistics) for the gathering of county-wide statistics, and organising and collating general register and census material.76
Demography
Greater Manchester has a population of 2,553,800 (as of 2006), making it the third most populous county in the United Kingdom (after Greater London and the West Midlands).2 It is the seventh most densely populated county of England. The demonym of Greater Manchester is "Greater Mancunian".77
Greater Manchester is home to a diverse population and is a multicultural agglomeration with significant ethnic minority population comprising 8.49% of the total population.7879 There are currently over 66 refugee nationalities in the county.80 As of the 2001 UK census, 74.2% of Greater Manchester's residents were Christian, 5.0% Muslim, 0.9% Jewish, 0.7% Hindu, 0.2% Buddhist, and 0.1% Sikh. 11.4% had no religion, 0.2% had an alternative religion and 7.4% did not state their religion. This is similar to the rest of the country, although the proportions of Muslims and Jews are nearly twice the national average.81 Greater Manchester is covered by the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Salford and Shrewsbury,8283 and the Archdiocese of Liverpool. Most of Greater Manchester is part of the Anglican Diocese of Manchester,84 apart from Wigan which lies within the Diocese of Liverpool.85
Following the deindustrialisation of Greater Manchester in the mid-20th century, there was a significant economic and population decline in the region, particularly in Manchester and Salford.8687 Vast areas of low-quality squalid terraced housing that were built throughout the Victorian era were found to be in a poor state of repair and unsuited to modern needs; many inner-city districts suffered from chronic social deprivation and high levels of unemployment.8788 Slum clearance and the increased building of social housing overspill estates by Salford and Manchester City Councils lead to a decrease in population in central Greater Manchester.89 During the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the population of Greater Manchester declined by over 8,000 inhabitants a year.87 While the population of the City of Manchester shrank by about 40% during this time (from 766,311 in 1931 to 452,000 in 2006), the total population of Greater Manchester only decreased by 8%.87
| Population totals for Greater Manchester | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Population | Year | Population | Year | Population | ||
| 1801 |
|
1871 |
|
1941 |
|
||
| 1811 |
|
1881 |
|
1951 |
|
||
| 1821 |
|
1891 |
|
1961 |
|
||
| 1831 |
|
1901 |
|
1971 |
|
||
| 1841 |
|
1911 |
|
1981 |
|
||
| 1851 |
|
1921 |
|
1991 |
|
||
| 1861 |
|
1931 |
|
2001 |
|
||
| Pre-1974 statistics were gathered from local government areas that now comprise Greater Manchester Source: Great Britain Historical GIS.90 |
|||||||
Greater Manchester's housing stock comprises a variety of types. Manchester City Centre is noted for its high-rise apartments,91 while Salford has some of the tallest and most densely populated tower block estates in Europe.92 Throughout Greater Manchester, rows of terraced houses are common, most of them built during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. The Housing Market Renewal Initiative has identified Manchester, Salford, Rochdale and Oldham as areas with terraced housing unsuited to modern needs. Although Greater Manchester has a reputation as an urban sprawl, the county does have areas of green belt. Altrincham, with its neighbours Bowdon and Hale, is said to constitute a "stockbroker belt, with well-appointed dwellings in an area of sylvan opulence".93
Education
- See also: List of schools in Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester has four universities: the University of Bolton, the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the University of Salford. Together with the Royal Northern College of Music they had a combined population of students in higher education of 101,165 in 2007 – the third highest number in England behind Greater London (360,890) and the West Midlands (140,980),94 and the thirteenth highest in England per head of population.95 The majority of students are concentrated on Oxford Road in Manchester, Europe's largest urban higher education precinct.