The pleasant springtime sun bakes an eerily quiet shopping square in Little Hulton.
The suburb is on the fringes of Salford, bordering Bolton towns and for years it has battled the stigma that comes with regularly featuring in lists of the most deprived areas of England.
In 2019 it was identified as a ‘left behind’ place because of the lack of social infrastructure. Speak to the locals milling about and they say not much has changed.
However, with the local elections looming the people of Little Hulton, and the rest of Salford, will have the chance to voice their opinions via the polling booth.
Currently, the Labour party dominates Salford Council, holding 50 of 60 seats in the chamber.
The Tories are the closest competitors with seven seats.
This year, the Conservatives, the Green Party, Labour, and Reform UK are all standing candidates in every single area.
Each party have earmarked points of weakness in the Labour stronghold, the Lib Dems are gunning to win new seats in the Quays and Ordsall where they have been successful in recent years.
The Greens fancy their chances in Blackfriars and Trinity, in part thanks to the growing popularity of Zak Polanski and Hannah Spencer’s triumph in the Gorton and Denton byelection.
“When Zak was elected, he gave a different dynamic to the Green Party with him being a local lad from Salford,” said David Jones, the Green Party candidate for Blackfriars and Trinity.
He’s been a member of the party for 12 years and has watched its fortunes change from a ‘fringe’ outfit popular in Bristol to a legitimate player in local and national politics.
He said: “When I started it was always a struggle to get someone to stand in the local election, now we’ve got someone everywhere and the membership has exploded.
“We’ve been campaigning on the Eastern fringe because that’s where our active members have been historically.
“Since I was a kid and long before Salford has been the bedrock for Labour, Salford is the bedrock on which the foundation of the red wall was built, and it’s been like that for a long time.
“But that’s changing now. People have a choice.
“We’ve come in at this time and we’ve had a huge influx of new members so we can stand everywhere, and we’ve got viable alternatives.
“A few years ago, we were just a fringe party and weren’t going anywhere.
“Especially after what happened in Denton and Gorton, people in Greater Manchester are seeing that the Greens can win.”
Reform are targeting areas like Little Hulton and Walkden on the outskirts of the city.
Little Hulton (Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
Lewis Croden is the candidate for the constituency, his campaign is centred around lofty ambitions of an elected Greater Manchester Assembly and to bring the Summer Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup to Manchester and the North.
As well as addressing the cost of living crisis, focus on ‘real investment’ in the suburb and restoring ‘pride in the community.’
He told the M.E.N that he’s running in the election because people in Salford and Little Hulton “have been left behind for too long and people here are fed up with it,
“Fed up with being taken for granted by Labour and the Conservatives, who’ve had years to fix things,”
However, for Emma Webb, 43, Reform isn’t the answer to Little Hulton.
“I won’t be voting for Labour or Conservatives, but I can’t vote for Reform either,” she told the M.E.N.
“I feel like Reform is slightly racist and the other two are just awful. It’s been years of them blaming each other and meanwhile nothing gets better, really.
“There’s a lot of things that I don’t agree with Reform, I feel like they’re a continuation of the Conservative Party. This is why I don’t vote; I don’t know if agree with any of them.”
Little Hulton has seen recent investment procured by its Labour run council. Funding was released to develop a £500,000 new look public square and some £240,000 has been allocated to revive the once dilapidated Peel Park.
But Emma feels as though that money should have been spent to address the structural issues that plague Little Hulton.
“I’ve lived here about five years,” she explained. “I went from a council estate to a private house and I miss the council estate to be honest.
“There was more community and things for kids to do. I feel like money isn’t pushed up this end.
“This new square feels like all the money that’s been spent on Little Hulton. I feel like that could have been spent elsewhere.
“I know they’re doing up Peel Park but it’s not somewhere I would let my children go really. There’s just so much anti-social behaviour there.
“They do it and then within two weeks it’s all broken and vandalised.
“If there’s more for the children to do, I know there’s the youth club in Salford, but for teenagers to get to it’s hard. They get new stuff and then they just break it.
“I honestly feel like the people in the area will vote Reform, but I think that’s because they don’t know enough about what’s happening.”
Councillor for Little Hulton, Teresa Pepper, who will be standing in the election, sees that investment as examples of the work that local councillors can achieve when they are given the time and funding.
“That sort of thing doesn’t come if councillors aren’t there speaking for the local residents,” she explained.
“The park has been dilapidated for some time; I have delivered new play equipment. It’s hard work to do that. It’s not a five-minute job.
“I started on that project four years ago when I was elected. The first job is to secure funding and then to get that through the approval stages that are necessary when spending public money.
“Transport and infrastructure is something that needs work, but that’s quite a long term project.
“That’s being there at those meetings where that’s being discussed and having listened to your residents about what they’re telling you they want, making sure you’re voicing their opinions at those meetings.”
Alan Ashton, 80, is from Walkden. Alan said he hasn’t made up his mind about who will get his vote just yet, but he finds himself leaning towards the Reform candidate because of Nigel Farage, immigration, and stagnation in his local area
He said, “I’m a pensioner, they stopped our winter fuel and I’ve lost my trust in them since then. They come on the television and they just waffle.”
“They’re building houses in the area but where the schools?
He also noted his loss of “trust” in Labour, citing a litany of high-profile scandals like the one involving the council’s deputy mayor Jack Youd.
The candidate for Walkden North who was at the centre of an affair and deleted emails scandal.
“I know nothing about my local councillors,” he intimated. “You’re voting for people you have to trust to do something for your area. If there’s any distrust it’s very, very difficult to vote for them.”
Jurate Varanaviciene has lived in Little Hulton with her husband and daughter for eight years, for her safety is at the top of her list of what the area needs.
“The plan was to wait for my daughter to turn 18 and then maybe I move to Liverpool,” She half-joked.
“There’s a lot of crime in Little Hulton, if someone can help deal with that then I’d vote for them. The new changes are nice, but I don’t know if it’s enough.”
Coronation Street, Ordsall (Image: Manchester Evening News)
Most of the people that the M.E.N spoke to were honest admitting their disconnect with local politics
In Ordsall, some residents said they hadn’t voted in years and don’t intend to do so. “Nobody is looking out for people like us so why bother.” A woman proclaimed.
Not many people knew who the candidates were or the campaign promises. Instead, the people relied on their knowledge of national politics to inform their decisions.
According to Bob Clarke, leader of the Salford Conservative group, some parties have banked on this reality to win votes.
“That’s one thing we avoid doing. This isn’t a referendum on the government.
“It’s a referendum on the local council. There seems to be a trend now using local councillors as a bellwether to whether the government is doing well.
“It should be whether local councillors are doing a job in their local communities. It should have nothing to do with Keir Starmer, the Tories or any other political party.
“It should be about local issues.”
71-year-old Esther Platt from Eccles is a self-described socialist who said that while she understands the allure of Reform, which saw neighbouring Barton and Winton vote for the city’s first Reform councillor, she can’t see herself following suit.
“We’ve been forgotten,” She said. “Even the charity shops are closing, there’s nothing and nobody cares. Look at the state of the town centre, this is the best they could offer us, painted shutters.
“To be honest, I’m voting for Liberal Democrats. I can see why people are voting for Reform, but to me that would be the equivalent of voting for Trump in America.
“Yes, I know Liberal Democrats are middle of the road and I know they won’t get in. Some people might say we’ve wasted our vote, but at least we’ve voted. I couldn’t vote Tory or Reform.”
When speaking to the M.E.N, a 28-year-old dad of two from Eccles said he was finding it difficult to find someone that represents him on a local level.
After telling the M.E.N that he plans to abstain from his vote, he added: “If I was to vote, I’d probably go Green, but I don’t believe that Greens have the potential to make much of a change.
“If you go around here, you’d get more right-wing opinions. We’ve moved into a time where people raising the English flag is almost a racist remark at this point.
“People are conflating legal immigration with asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. There’s no world where people should be having their shops burned down or being chased out of the areas that they legally live in.”
Eccles town centre
A 75-year-old Eccles resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, was blunt when he gave the reason as to why he was a staunch Reform supporter.
“I’m not voting Labour because it’s a black man, sorry to say that,” He said. “It’s because I’m racist, I always have been and I am.
“Farage said he’s going to get it done, get them all out. Nobody’s going to vote Labour around here I don’t think.”
When asked about the local issues, he conceded that he welcomed the regeneration plans.
“They’ve started pulling it down, and the whole lot wants coming down. There’s no shops, all we’ve got is charity shops.”
A Monton resident, who has lived through the boom of the area said he is leaning towards Reform due to the hot topic issue of immigration.
“Labour are doing their best, if you go to Monton now you can’t believe it. It’s heaving,” he said.
“I’m not into politics that much but he seems to tell the truth Farage, that’s my opinion.
“Immigration is the big thing for me. There’s too many boats coming and it’s telling with the roads and other things, all the houses built on the greenery.”
Farage’s leadership of Reform has proven popular among some Salford residents (Image: Getty Images)
In Broughton, fed up residents are just looking for someone to address the potholes that have been wreaking havoc in the area.
One resident said: “We’re in England, they don’t fix potholes. Rod Stewart has a Ferrari, and instead of waiting on the council to fix potholes, he and his mates went around did it themselves.”
“If Salford City Council really want to apologise to anybody who’s paid road tax in the last three years, they should give a refund.” Added another resident.
Potholes on Wellington Street West in Broughton, Salford(Image: Copyright Unknown)
“I just feel like councils need to do stuff when they’re in power, have you seen the state of the roads?” Said Simon Phili, a 52-year-old resident who works at the local butchers, M.H Meats. “My top priority in this area is to fix the potholes. I avoid roads now; these roads are absolutely abysmal. I’m very apathetic when it comes to voting, but I do vote, I just have to look at someone’s policy.”
Kasia Starashurka
Kasia Starashurka said she loves living in Broughton, but as a new business owner, the cost of living crisis is getting to her and she’s looking for a local councillor who can help address that. She said, “I live with my husband; I’ve opened my local business and fingers crossed everything is okay. “We both work full time; we don’t have children and we don’t have a major problem. But when I look at my account, it doesn’t grow. “I spend more than I save.”