“Large parts of Salford used to just be a car park for the city centre of Manchester... now it's a city that’s really going places"

“Salford was not a place I thought would have a future career for me, now that has changed." These are the words of the new assistant director for skills and work at Salford council.

Born and bred in the city, Matthew Ainsworth hopes to stop people who live in Salford feel like where they're from is a barrier to success. He believes that has changed since he was growing up - but admits there's still work to be done.

Mr Ainsworth will spearhead the Skills and Work programme, which received £1.5m in funding in November and is a key priority for the council. The updated programme will help to provide opportunities to young people progressing into education and work; connect adults to employment and training opportunities; and support businesses to create sustainable opportunities for local people.

Mr Ainsworth says he has three key aims:

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“I don’t want people living in Salford to feel like it is a barrier,” Mr Ainsworth said. “When I was growing up in Salford I never had any sense of it being a growing city in terms of employment opportunity.

“In the 80s when I was making decisions about college and university I didn’t think Salford was a great place to be for employment. Even Manchester was not in a great place at the time.

“Me and my colleagues were looking to London for opportunities. Those people who were originally looking to London now may think, ‘why not go to Salford’.”

Fortunately for Salford, he did not go down south for employment and joins the council after seven years with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority as its acting director for education, skills and work. In addition to his previous nine year stint with Salford Council, he