With every new development Salford is being re-branded as Manchester. Is this the end of Salford as we know it?
Back in February 2011, mums, midwives and even local politicians were heartbroken when the board of NHS North West voted to close down Salford's maternity unit at Hope Hospital. Speaking after the decision meeting, Jill Morrison, a Salford mum who had recently given birth to a premature baby at Hope, said she was `absolutely disgusted'... "Now there's not going to be a Salford city as such we're going to be taken over by Manchester yet again. And it's all wrong..."
To be a true Salfordian now, you've either got to be born at home or be delivered at the now re-named Salford Royal Hospital in the Midwife Led Unit, itself under threat from either closure or `outsourcing'. In the year 2012-13 only 261 babies were born in Salford, out of 3,500 babies with Salford parents. That's 7.4%. In the near future the true Salfordian will be almost extinct.
Meanwhile, the city inhabited by Salford people is changing beyond all recognition and morphing slowly into Manchester through a re-branding exercise by private companies who don't give a toss about the city's proud heritage and culture.
Salford Council has handed over hundreds of thousands of pounds to Salford City Reds, now Salford Red Devils, justifying it by citing the importance of having a Super League rugby team that would put the city on the map. That team then played with `Lowry Outlet, MediaCityUK, Manchester' festooned across its shirts, thanks to sponsors the Peel Group, which had previously re-branded its MediaCityUK and Lowry Outlet Mall as being in Manchester.
At Salford City Football Club, the takeover by the Class of 92 last year was shrouded in Salford pride... "Everyone knows how important Salford is to me" said Ryan Giggs. Unfortunately, the first thing the Class of 92 did when they fully took over the club was to take the word `Salford' off the team shirts, replaced with the non-descript SCFC. The city's official lion crest has also been removed from the badge, replaced with a more `modern' one.
Salford is certainly disappearing from the face of the earth, a process begun by the `University of Salford, Manchester' (which also did away with its Salford lion), and almost finished by the Electoral Commission, which had planned to get rid of the Salford Parliamentary seat altogether and merge it with Manchester.
A huge backlash by local politicians and Salford people, including the Save Salford Facebook group with over 5,000 members, forced a re-think as the Salford and Eccles constituency was saved. But huge swathes of the city are now in Broughton and Blackley, with a Manchester based MP Graham Stringer.
Those same politicians who wept for the future of Salford had no qualms, it seems, in agreeing to re-define the riverside and developer-ripe bits of Central Salford as being in the `regional centre', which is bureaucrat-speak for Manchester, even though they include Salford City Centre in the `official' definition.
The plan was revealed in Salford Council's Development Plan Core Strategy Pre Publication Consultation in 2011, complete with a map showing the boundary line for the new `regional centre' weaving around some of the most deprived parts of Salford. For instance, Greengate was included in the `regional centre' but Greengate North and Trinity weren't included. Ordsall Waterfront was included but Ordsall itself wasn't.
Also in the `regional centre' were The Crescent, some parts of Liverpool Street, Salford Central and Salford Quays, while Pendleton, Broughton, Charlestown (except for the Innovation Forum), Lower Kersal, Eccles New Road, Claremont and Weaste were left out.
While the Core Strategy was eventually scrapped by Government inspectors, a new `Greater Manchester Spatial Framework', is about to be consulted on. When Salford councillors discussed the Spatial Framework, which will determine planning under the new devolution deal, even the Assistant Mayor for Planning, Councillor Antrobus, stated "There may be legislative change which means that we would not have the power to approve it. That power will be somewhere else..."
...Make way for the Greater Manchester Mayor election next year. The devolution deal with Tory Chancellor George Osborne - signed by the ten leaders of Greater Manchester councils included handing over powers to the GM Mayor for aspects of planning, housing, transport and education.
Meanwhile, developers are taking the power to kill Salford into their own hands. Virtually every single new development in the city has suddenly been moved into Manchester. A Liverpool company, X1, is currently flogging loads of apartments all branded with Manchester... X1 Media City Manchester; X1 Salford Quays Manchester; X1 Chapel Street Manchester; X1 The Exchange Manchester...and, most obnoxious of all, X1 Town Hall Manchester its conversion of the old Salford Town Hall on Bexley Square.
The stunning deco Dock Offices, currently being converted to flats, are now located at `Manchester's Salford Quays', according to sales agent Edwards and Co; the Adelphi Wharf apartment blocks on Adelphi Street, that have not even been built yet, are currently being marketed as `high end riverside apartments in Manchester' and there's two Abito apartment developments at `Manchester:Greengate' and `Manchester:Salford Quays'.
Visiting Salford? You can now stay in the `Premier Inn Manchester' (at Salford Quays), or `The Lowry Hotel Manchester' or the `Holiday Inn Manchester- MediaCityUK'. Fancy getting fit? Try and work out how Pure Gym is in `Exchange Quay Manchester'. Or fancy a snack at EastzEast at `Manchester Riverside' on Blackfriars Street? The list goes on and on and on...
However, is it any wonder these companies are running ragged over Salford's identity when the city's original URC regeneration company, was marketing the Quays as `Manchester's Waterfront'. And even now, Salford City Council's own Visit Salford website is hosting a brochure for the Soapworks in Ordsall, located at Media City, Salford Quays, Manchester... "an exciting, bold new address" one of the pages slathers. It certainly is...
It's not just the Salfordian who is an endangered species; a growing section of the city is being re-branded and hyper-gentrified, and is losing its very soul, despite the corporate crumbs of a few Shelagh Delaney portraits dotted about developments and naming an unaffordable housing block after a Vimto bottle.
For the original report and lots more about social cleansing and planning scandals in Salford see the electronic version of print issue 10 - click here
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