Manchester's state of the city report is out

The latest state of the city report for Manchester is out today.

This is the blurb on it from the city council

Manchester's State of the City report is an annual headline document measuring the city's current performance. The report shows that while deep-rooted challenges remain, especially because of the impact of the difficult economic climate and the impact of the government's financial settlement, the city continues to move in the right direction on many fronts and has shown greater resilience than most other major UK cities.

City Council leader Sir Richard Leese said: "The picture that emerges from this report is that while the economic circumstances we have been extremely challenging, and while we certainly haven't achieved all the ambitious targets we've set, on the whole the city has demonstrated great resilience. We still have a strong foundation for growth.

"The creation of Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Transport for Greater Manchester, dealing with policy areas where it makes more sense to work at a Greater Manchester-wide level, will also help us to deliver our goals."

Manchester's population has continued to grow, with mid-year estimates for 2010 showing that the number of people living in the city was 498,000 - surpassing the target figure for 2015 of 480,000 set out in Manchester Partnership's Community Strategy and reversing the decline of the 1970s and 80s.

There is a strong trend of improvement in education. The largest investment programme ever seen in the city's schools, via the Building Schools for the Future and Academies programme, is having a visible impact. By September next year all of the city's secondary schools will have been rebuilt or refurbished. The percentage of pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades including English and Maths continues to rise while persistent absence in Manchester and primary schools is steadily falling.

Sustained investment saw the number of journeys made by public transport increase from around 50 per cent to more than two-thirds between 1997 and 2010.

Over the period of Manchester's Crime and Disorder Strategy (2008-11) serious acquisitive crime has reduced by 38.2 per cent and violent crime by 16.7 per cent, although as the Tuesday 9 August disturbances showed there is no room for complacency.

But long-term challenges remain complex. For instance while life expectancy at birth for women has increased from 78.8 years in 2006-08 to 79.1 years in 2007-09 and for men from 73.7 years in 2006-08 to 74.0 years in 2007-09, this remains among the worst in England.

A gap remains between the average wages of all people who work in the city (£424.70 a week in 2010) and those of Manchester residents (£349.90 a week in 2010.)

Also published today is Manchester's State of the Wards report which look at progress at a ward and neighbourhood level. The State of the City and State of the Wards reports can be downloaded from http://www.manchesterpartnership.org.uk/