The Changing Face of Trafford: Industry in Trafford

Jobs and the Labour Market

Employment at the time of the Census [i]

Table 4 2023 data is for the year to December 2023.[ii]

It can be seen from Table 4 that self-employment reached a peak at the 2011 census and has dropped considerably for males between 2011 and 2023. The balance between the genders for those employed has changed over the period, with considerably more females in employment than males in 2023.

Employment in 1974

4.9% of the population of Trafford were unemployed in January 1973. Increased opportunities across Greater Manchester in the previous decade, had come in the professionall and scientific sector, miscellaneous services, insurance and banking, gas and electric, metal goods, and furniture. The traditional areas of mining – only four of the thirty-eight collieries active across Greater Manchester in 1958 were still active in 1973. Textiles had declined significantly too, but neither of these industries had as large an impact on Trafford as other areas, mainly to the North of the new county.[iii] In 1974, service industries accounted for 59.6% of the UK economy. In 2016, services accounted for 80% of the UK economy. Manufacturing has declined from 26% of the economy in 1974 to 9.3% in 2024.[iv]

Some aspects of Trafford’s economy were beginning to look a little weak in 1974. At the time of the changeover to the new authority: 

 ‘Trafford Park is the epitome of the county’s industrial problems – looked on until very recently as an example of the best in Manchester Enterprise – excellent rail and deep-sea canal access, close to the residential areas of Sale and Salford, next to Britain’s first urban motorway, on good bus routes too.’[v]

Trafford Park employed sixty to eighty thousand people at its peak, but many firms had reduced their labour requirements through increased productivity, and some have closed. However, the Altrincham Guardian of 1974 was full of job vacancies in the months following the establishment of Trafford Council. Readers of today would probably be surprised to see advertisements for a ‘Young Lady’ or ‘Skilled Men’.[vi]

In July 1974, there were 933 men and 107 women listed as jobless in Altrincham, a total increase of 125 on the previous month. However, there was the highest level of unfilled vacancies at 595 (362 for men, 233 for women) since 1966.’ Opportunities for men included all grades of clerical workers, and all kinds of skilled engineering workers, particularly metal mechanics. For women there were vacancies in clerical work, and in canteens and factories.[vii]

Employment in 2024

Labour Market Data

Trafford has a very well-qualified workforce, with averages significantly above figures for the North- West and Great Britain for Level 4 and Level 3, and above at Levels 1 and 2 (Tables 5 and 6) The percentage of those with no qualifications stands at 4.1% below that for the North-West.

At the time of the 2021 Census, 58.6% of Trafford residents aged between 16 years and 64, said they were employed (excluding full-time students), down from 59.4% in 2011. In the same census just over one in forty people (2.6%) said they were unemployed, compared with 3.4% in 2011. The percentage of retired Trafford residents increased from 21.2% to 21.5%.[viii] In December 2022 there were 11800 workless households, representing 16% of all households.[ix]

Data for Trafford from the ONS Population Survey for the period from October 2022 to September 2023, indicates that 74.1 % of the population were in employment, 67.1 % of whom were employees and 6.7% self-employed. 73.8% of males and 74.55% of females were in employment.[x] 3.2% were reported as unemployed. Gross disposable annual income was higher than average at £24,360.[xi]

Education

Data is not available for Trafford for 1974 because the achievement was not measured in such detail as it is in 2024.

Levels of Qualifications 2024

Table 5 All Residents over 16 at the time of the 2021 Census.[xii]

Table 6 Residents aged 16 – 64, highest qualification level (Jan 2023 – Dec 2023).[xiv]

The proportion of residents with the highest level of qualification, degree level or above, is considerably higher than the Great Britain figure at 47.3% and the figure for the North-West of 44.4%.

The transition from local councils to Trafford Borough Council coincided with changes to the structure of education in England. There was the never-ending debate in Trafford about whether to continue with grammar schools. Sixth Form Colleges or Junior Tertiary Colleges were being considered for Stretford, Urmston and Sale. Altrincham and Hale were ‘investigating schemes’. Old Trafford was part of an Educational Priority Area.’[xv] North Trafford College was established in 1974. South Trafford in 1951 in Sale, moving to its current site in Altrincham in 1966.

In 2024, educational achievement is strong. Trafford is well above the average achievement for England at Primary, Secondary and Post 16 levels.[xvi]

Trafford has seven selective grammar schools which are all in the top ten performing state schools in Greater Manchester.

Trafford College, formed from a merger of North (formerly Stretford Technical College), and South Trafford Colleges provides a range of vocational courses such as T-Levels, apprenticeship training, adult skills, employer partnerships alongside some academic A level courses.

University Academy 92, founded by former Manchester United players, Gary and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, provides degree level courses in Business, Digital, Media and Sports related courses both on-line and at its Old Trafford campus.

Industry in 1974

Trafford had three large Industrial areas at Trafford Park, Broadheath and Carrington in 1974. Over the last fifty years to 1975, Trafford had moved from the old traditional industries to an economy based on high technology, retail, warehousing and distribution and business services. It benefitted from easy access to the communications network.

‘The borough of Trafford enjoys a strategic position at the centre of a circle, a hundred miles in radius, which contains half the population of England and Wales. This fact alone is sufficient explanation for the existence, growth and strategic importance of the Trafford Park industrial estate, an enormous concentration of industry of national and international repute.’ [xvii]

Office-based work was a big hope and development of new office buildings throughout Trafford was an aspiration for future employment. Altrincham had 209,000 square feet of office space, Sale 336,000, and Stretford 452,000 in the late 1960s. Since 1974 development of office space has increased along the A56 corridor and elsewhere in town centres and small industrial estates. Altrincham had the Gas Board based there.[xviii]

The Manchester ship canal was still functioning in 1974 and a container terminal had been constructed in Trafford Park. ‘The funnels and masts of ocean-going freighters pass along the Manchester Ship Canal, which runs along one flank of the estate while, at another point on its boundary, a motorway links Trafford Park to the growing national road network.’ [xix]

Trafford Park in 1974

Some long-standing Trafford Park employers had closed in the early 1970s, notably AEI, formerly GEC, and all was not well. The rail network on the estate had been reduced from twenty-six miles of track to six and a half miles and several sites were being redeveloped. The thirty-three-acre AEI site was planned to have forty-four new units constructed on it.[xx] It was abandoned in 1998. By the 1970s the Trafford Park village was also considered by Stretford Council to be a slum area, and unsuitable for residential housing. In the first phase of clearance, during the mid-1970s, two hundred and ninety-eight houses were demolished.[xxi]

By 1975, the Trafford Park estate was about one thousand two hundred acres with two hundred factories employing fifty thousand people. There were about two hundred firms based in Trafford Park. These included well-known names such as British Steel; GEC-AEI; British Oxygen; Carborundum; Colgate Palmolive; Rank, Hovis, McDougall; Schreiber Furniture; Coventry Climax; Ingersoll-Rand; Proctor and Gamble; Courtaulds; Kelloggs; Kraft, Brooke Bond Oxo; C.W.S.; GKN; CIBA- GEIGY; Massey Ferguson; Esso; Gulf; Shell and Texaco. [xxii]

In 1984, Tony Lloyd, MP for Stretford, raised the question of industrial decline in Trafford Park to discuss its future in the House of Commons. He listed Kraft; Spillers; Ingersoll Rand; NEI; Schreiber furniture and ICI, as well as raising the issues faced by GEC.[xxiii] As a result the Trafford Park Development Corporation was formed in 1987, which, over the next ten years, attracted one thousand companies, generating twenty-eight thousand two hundred and ninety-nine new jobs and £1.759 billion of private sector investment.

Trafford Park in 2024

Trafford Park, with over 9 million sq.m. of business space, remains one of the largest and most successful business parks in Europe. Globally recognised as a centre of excellence, Trafford Park in 2024 is home to over 1,330 businesses employing over 35,000 people. There are now far more warehouse type facilities and offices than factories.

Most of the buildings are of modern design and not of a brick-built construction. The warehouses, some of which occupy large areas, are mainly populated by logistics and storage companies and distribution centres for major national companies. At the same time there are plenty of smaller units occupied by a varied range of companies.

As well as its strong industrial base, Trafford Park also benefits from its outstanding location with fantastic transport links by road, rail, water and air. Over 120,000 registered businesses are located within a 30-minute drive time of Trafford Park, and it is home to the largest inland freight terminal in the North-West.[xxiv]

‘In recognition of its regional and national importance, a private sector led growth strategy has been developed in order to grow Trafford Park further, with numerous opportunities for both commercial and industrial development currently available. Delivery of this strategy is led by a dedicated Board comprising some of the key global brands located in Trafford Park: Canmoor, Cargill, Intu Trafford Centre, Kellogg’s, L’Oreal, Manchester United FC, Peel Group and Procter & Gamble.’[xxv]

2024 Companies also include: L’Oréal, Adidas, Amazon, Brooke Bond, Unilever, ITV, Creamline Dairies, Craghoppers/Regatta, Unilever (Foods), Nampak plastics, Suez Waste Collection Services, and Warehousing and Logistics companies. Some companies that were there in 1974 are still present. Rank, Hovis, McDougall is the only flour mill still operating in the park,[xxvi] and BOC opened a purification plant on Cargill’s site in 2017.[xxvii] Brooke Bond and Proctor and Gamble have both had a long history on the estate. Kellogg’s announced in February 2024 that it was likely to close its Trafford Park factory as it was too old to be modernised.[xxviii]

A major concern about Trafford Park is that, in 2024, it is the source of half the borough’s carbon emissions and the single largest carbon emitter in Greater Manchester. Trafford council launched ‘Bee Net Zero Trafford Park’ with a view to improving this situation through decarbonisation, rather than deindustrialisation.[xxix]

Broadheath in 1974

Broadheath Industrial Estate, established in 1885 with the opening of George Richards’ Atlantic Engineering Works, predates Trafford Park which started in 1900 to take advantage of the recently opened Manchester Ship Canal. The Altrincham Official Guide 1971 - 72 listed the following companies in Broadheath – Cheshire Tools, Kearns-Richards Division of Stavely Machine Tools, Luke & Spencer Grinding Wheels, McTay Engineering, Tilghman Wheelabrator Ltd – shot blasting, air compressors and air pollution control, Parflo Engineering, Giddings and Lewis.[xxx]

“In 1975 a Trafford Council report declared that industry in Broadheath was finely balanced between decline and revitalisation. There was a larger proportion of under used buildings and vacant sites than in any other part of Trafford”. [xxxi]

Churchills had announced in 1972 that it would close in 1973, with a loss of one thousand, one hundred jobs.[xxxii] However, by 1978 the estate was showing signs of picking up, but it was soon to slump again in the 1980s. Luke & Spencer finished in 1981 and Kearns Richards departed around 1990. Linotype, the flagship employer lost business throughout the 1980s but was still operating in 2001 on a much-reduced scale.

Broadheath in 2024

Very few of those companies active in Broadheath in 1974 remain in 2024. However, the area is still thriving, with over two hundred and fifty businesses located across a number of business and industrial parks. They range from retail, to automotive, to manufacturing, to world-leading animation.[xxxiii] These include the Budenberg Guage Company Ltd., various software companies such as Siemens Industry Software, green IT Disposal and Matrix IQ a telematics company providing software for transport.

There are still some companies that specialise in engineering – Precision Investment Castings; Sebden Steel, that occupies the former Tilghman’s plant; Wheelabrator Group that specialises in blast technology. Cotton Traders and Chadwick Textiles are producers of sportswear manufacturer.

There are also a growing number of retail stores and warehouses. There is an ASDA supermarket amongst the factories and warehouses. There are many companies that cater for the building trade – Atlantic Timber, Howdens, Screwfix, Tool Station, Gallagher Reclamation and Roofing, APC Wholesale Tap Distributer, City Electrical Supplies, Plumbase, London Stone, Cheshire Marble, Cemex, Trafford Fencing Supplies, Bathroom Showroom, Gunn JCB and many others.

Network Space, a large new development on the former sight of Cartwright, Coach Builders has recently been completed with support from Trafford Council. It has twenty-five units of various sizes, covers 3,855 square metres and cost forty-five million pounds to develop.[xxxv]

The Altrincham Retail Park accommodates Homebase, Curry’s, Pets at Home, Boots, The Range, Wren Kitchens, TK Maxx, Carpetright, Aldi, Lidl, B & M Bargains, Hobbycraft and JD Sports.

Carrington 1974

Carrington Moss had formerly been used for the dumping of night soil collections in Manchester whose council bought the moss for this purpose in 1886 from the Earl of Stamford.

The construction of the coal fired Carrington Power station was started there in 1946 and opened in July 1956.[xxxvi] The petro-chemical industry moved into the site between 1947 and 1952. The estate was leased to Shell Chemicals in 1968 and they developed the plant. It became a multi-million business employing over a thousand people at its peak in the mid-1980s.

In July 1974 it was in danger of running out of fuel on account of a strike by Shell workers.[xxxvii] Shell closed most of their units there by 2007.[xxxviii] As well as Shell, Air Products had a base on the site.

Shell owned a large tract of land. In 2009 The Shell Carrington chemical works took up approximately 311 acres of former secure core petro-chemical manufacture and distribution area.

There were a further 137 acres outside the secure area, home to a number of storage and distribution related companies. In addition, Shell owned a further 1,070 acres of agricultural land which is occupied by tenants on farm tenancies and represents approximately 72% of Shell’s land holdings in the area.[xxxix]

Carrington Business Park was situated in the former administration core of the chemical works and comprised a cluster of office and light industrial buildings previously occupied by Shell. These operated as a serviced business centre.

It was established in the wake of a significant reduction in manufacturing activity on site in the 1980s and has been a great success, housing 130 businesses employing in the region of 800 workers in 2009.[xl] The Park ceased to function when businesses were given notice to leave by Wain Homes for housing development in February 2022.[xli] Demolition began in March 2023.[xlii] The coal fired power station generated electricity until 1991,[xliii] and was replaced in 2016 with a gas turbine system on the site of the original station.

Carrington 2024

In 2024, plans are underway under the ‘Places for Everyone’ framework for a very large-scale development, currently referred to as New Carrington. This will cover Carrington, Partington and Sale West.

There are proposals to build some five thousand houses on the site, some of which will be on the green belt land, and industrial and business units. An estate of new houses has already been built by Wain Homes at the Flixton Lane end of the site. The former chemical works represent about 20% of the total development.

Other Industrial Sites

The computer industry was well represented in Trafford in 1974 with IBM at Sale, Data Services (Int.), Nixdorf and TSB Computer Services in Altrincham.[xliv]

Urmston was the location for Simpson Ready Foods on Stretford Road, Urmston in 1974. The company sold its business, which moved to Yorkshire, and the Urmston factory was closed in 2016 with the loss of a hundred jobs.

In 2024 there are a number of small industrial/business parks or trading estates outside the main industrial areas of Trafford Park, Broadheath and Carrington, in various parts of Trafford. Altrincham has the Oakfield Trading Estate. There are three small estates off Park Road in Timperley - Attenburys Park Estate, Crown Industrial Estate and Park Road Estate. Dane Road Industrial Estate in Sale has a corrosion prevention and control accompany and flooring contractors amongst its several units.

Article researched and written by Trafford Local Studies volunteer Richard Nelson.

Sources

[i] Data for 1971 – 2011, GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, Trafford District through time | Statistics |, A Vision of Britain through Time. https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10168569/cube/CENSUS_EMPL

[Accessed: 19th March 2024]. For 2024 data from https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1946157089/report.aspx [Accessed 07 Apr 2024].

[ii] https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1946157089/report.aspx?town=trafford#tabempunemp [Accessed 23 Apr 2024].

[iii] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[iv] https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN05206/SN05206.pdf, dated 22 Mar 2024 [Accessed 24 Mar 2024] and ‘Changes in the economy since the 1970s’ Data analysis from the 2021 Census, https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/articles/changesintheeconomysincethe1970s/2019-09-02 [Accessed 24 Mar 2024].

[v] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[vi] Altrincham Guardian, 25 Jul 1974, p.8.

[vii] Altrincham Guardian, 25 Jul 1974, p.8.

[viii] https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/sources/census_2021/report?compare=E08000009 [Accessed 24 Mar 2024].

[ix]  https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1946157089/report.aspx?town=trafford#tabempunemp [Accessed 19 Mar 2024] and Labour Market Profiles – Trafford, produced by Nomis, Office for National Statistics 2024 https://nomisweb.co.uk/reports [Accessed 24 Mar 2024].

[x] https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1946157089/report.aspx?town=trafford#tabempunemp [Accessed 19 Mar 2024].

[xi] https://explore-local-statistics.beta.ons.gov.uk/areas/E08000009-trafford/indicators [Accessed 13 Apr 2024].

[xii] Source: ONS - 2021 Census.

[xiii] Registered Qualifications Framework (RQF), previously measured as National Qualifications Framework (NVQ). RVQ 4 covers HND, Degree and Higher Degree qualifications, RVQ 3 is 2 or more A Levels, Advanced GNVQ, NVQ 3, RVQ 2 is 5 GCSEs at A-C, Intermediate GNVQ, NVQ Level 2, RVQ 1 Fewer than 5 GCSEs at A – C, Foundation GNVQ, NVQ 1, Other qualifications include overseas qualification and some professional qualification.

[xiv] https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1946157089/report.aspx?town=trafford#tabempunemp [Accessed 19 Mar 2024] * Estimates based on a small sample.

[xv] Clark, David M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[xvi] https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools&region=358&geographic [Accessed 9 Apr 2024].

[xvii] Metropolitan Borough of Trafford Official Guide and Industrial Handbook 1975, Trafford Local Studies, 526432.

[xviii] Clark, David M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[xix] Metropolitan Borough of Trafford Official Guide and Industrial Handbook 1975, Trafford Local Studies, 526432.

[xx] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[xxi] Wikipedia [Accessed 13 Mar 2024].

[xxii] Metropolitan Borough of Trafford Official Guide and Industrial Handbook 1975, Trafford Local Studies, 526432.

[xxiii] Hansard, 27 March 1984, vol 57 cc263-70. [Accessed 13 Mar 2024].

[xxiv] https://www.trafford.gov.uk/business/locations-for-business/docs/trafford-park-brochure.pdf [Accessed 13 Mar 2024].

[xxv] http://www.investintrafford.com/BusinessLocations/business-locations.aspx [Accessed 13 Mar 2024].

[xxvi] https://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/outside/rankhovis.html [Accessed 13 Apr 2024].

[xxvii] https://www.circularonline.co.uk/news/boc-purification-plant-opens-cargill-manchester-site/ [Accessed 13 Apr 2024].

[xxviii] Manchester Evening News on-line edition, 8 Feb 2024, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/live-kelloggs-trafford-park-shut-28594109 [Accessed 13 Apr 2024].

[xxix] https://www.trafford.gov.uk/residents/news/articles/2024/20240322-Trafford-Council-Leader-launches-support-to-help-Trafford-Parks-businesses-Bee-Net-Zero.aspx, Mar 2024. [Accessed 11 Apr 2024].

[xxx] Altrincham Official Guide 1971-2, Trafford Local Studies, 96697938.

[xxxi] Bamford, Frank. Broadheath 1885 – 1985, A Century of Industry, Northern Writers, 1995.

[xxxii] Bamford, Frank. Broadheath 1885 – 1985, A Century of Industry, Northern Writers, 1995.

[xxxiii] http://www.investintrafford.com/BusinessLocations/Broadheath.aspx [Accessed 13 Mar 2024].

[xxxiv] https://www.atlantictimber.co.uk/aboutus.html [Accessed 28 Apr 2024].

[xxxv] https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/maersk-first-to-sign-up-at-45m-altrincham-industrial/

[xxxvi] Central Electricity Authority, Carrington Power Station, 1956, Trafford Local Studies 96692448.

[xxxvii] Stretford and Urmston Journal, 10 Jul 1974, p.1.

[xxxviii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Moss and https://modernmooch.com/2021/03/08/carrington-moss/

[xxxix] Shell Carrington Delivery Statement 2009 https://www.trafford.gov.uk/planning/strategic-planning/docs/carrington-delivery-statement.pdf [Accessed 14 Apr 2024].

[xl] Shell Carrington Delivery Statement 2009 https://www.trafford.gov.uk/planning/strategic-planning/docs/carrington-delivery-statement.pdf [Accessed 14 Apr 2024].

[xli] https://www.manchesterworld.uk/news/fury-as-firms-in-trafford-facing-threat-of-folding-and-job-losses-at-business-park-being-redeveloped-for-homes-3766919 [Accessed 14 Apr 2024].

[xlii] https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/northwest/news/2112434-demolition-begins-ahead-of-carrington-village-development [Accessed 14 Apr 2024].

[xliii] Central Electricity Authority, Carrington Power Station 1953 – 1991, Trafford Local Studies, 96692448.

[xliv] Metropolitan Borough of Trafford Official Guide and Industrial Handbook, 1975, Trafford Local Studies, 526432.