On the streets of the Greater Manchester suburb where the majority 'don't see the point' in voting

Most people don't vote in local elections. Last year, fewer than one in four residents who were registered to vote in Manchester - which had the lowest turnout in Greater Manchester - actually voted in the local council contest.

But one place in particular has had consistently low turnouts at local elections in recent years. In Fallowfield, just 15.22 pc of the electorate voted last May, making it the council ward with the lowest turnout in Greater Manchester.

The south Manchester suburb which is home to thousands of students has topped the list for the lowest proportion of voters in the city for several years. But putting this trend down to students alone does not paint the full picture.

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Long-term residents of the area have long-complained of the impact the large student population is having on their lives. Earlier this year, one resident of Fallowfield Brow described the neighbourhood as a 'party-club-fested, drunken, drugged up conurbation' that is 'fit for no human life or existence'.

Nick Roberts, who lives in Landcross Road, told town hall bosses in January that 90 pc of the properties in the seven streets on his estate are populated by students. But in the wider council ward, students are the minority of electors.

Two weeks before the election, the Local Democracy Reporting Service spoke to students in Fallowfield about why many won't vote on May 4. Tom Sanders, 21, who studies at the University of Manchester, says he doesn't see the point.

"I'm not political," he explained. "Maybe for general elections, but I don't know how impactful local elections are. Being away from home, we come and go."

Oliver, 19, who lives in student halls, has a