The Great Eight

Salford City Council’s vision is to create a fairer, greener and healthier Salford and it has picked eight top priorities to help achieve that.

Focusing on the Great Eight will help us plan how the city recovers from the pandemic, providing the right support and opportunities as well as bringing new jobs and investment to Salford. Visit www.salford.gov.uk/greateight for more details.

Salford City Council is already working hard to deliver results on the Great Eight but there is much to be done and we are focusing more resources to tackle climate change.

Last year the council’s welfare rights and debt advice service helped people claim £20 million in missing social security entitlements and tackle debt while Salford Assist provided 20,000 people with emergency support.

Over 1,000 new affordable homes have been built with more on the way. The council’s own ethical housing company Dérive is building council houses for the first time in a decade. Rough sleeping is down by 80 per cent.

Nearly 7,000 residents have new digital skills to help save money, apply for jobs and stay connected. The council has given 500 tablets to people most in need, is recycling donated phones and has created the Digital Everyone website https://digitalinclusion.salford.gov.uk as a one stop shop to find digital training.

The council is also working to tackle skills shortages and help businesses discover the talent they need to grow.

Salford City Council already buys around 55 per cent of its goods and services from local businesses, many of which also support Salford residents with training and work experience opportunities.

Salford is backing the Living Wage and, despite the pandemic, Living Wage accredited businesses in Salford grew from 38 in 2019 to 55 in February 2021 covering nearly 12,000 employees and putting money back into the local economy.

Salford is now the fastest growing economy in Greater Manchester with the largest cluster of digital businesses outside London and unprecedented levels of investment in the city. Port Salford, MediaCityUK and the Crescent are key investment sites but the challenge is to make sure everyone across the city benefits.

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