The Manchester Salford Pathfinder area includes inner city residential neighbourhoods in both Manchester and Salford that surround the Manchester Regional Centre.
Since the 1960s these neighbourhoods have been severely affected by the economic recession in traditional industries and have suffered huge population losses.
By the late 1990s these problems had led to housing market failure with areas characterised by:
- An oversupply of older terraced housing and relatively poor-quality social rented housing.
- A high level and concentration of empty homes.
- A widening gap between average house prices and Greater Manchester averages.
- High levels of deprivation, crime and antisocial behaviour.
- A consequent lack of investor confidence.
Neighbourhoods in the Manchester Salford Pathfinder area also offer a tremendous opportunity for renewal, as they lie at the heart of the Manchester Regional Centre, which is the largest and best performing city region economy outside London and the south east.
