After builders cleaning in Salford

Flats in Salford rose by 92.2% between 2001 and 2021, most of them in the east of the city, while terraced houses fell by 3.1%. At the 2021 Census 30.4% of households lived in a flat, 25.4% in a terrace and 34.7% in a semi. Round Pendleton and Charlestown (M5 4HE), 40.1% of homes with a recorded build date went up in 2015 or later.

A new flat at Salford Quays or in City Centre Salford has light, fine dust inside the kitchen units, along the door frames and in the window tracks, with labels still on the glass, and the lift is booked through the concierge before the crew comes. An older terrace after a refit is heavier. A 2016 survey of private homes found most category 1 hazards in houses built before 1919. When a house of that age is stripped back and replastered, plaster dust reaches the cornices, the picture rails and the inside of every cupboard. The crew starts at the ceiling line and dusts more than once, because fine dust settles again.

The council aims for 40,000 new homes by 2040, concentrated in City Centre Salford, MediaCityUK and The Quays, the Western Gateway and Salford's towns; Places for Everyone, adopted in March 2024, sets a minimum of 28,186 for 2022 to 2039.

In Salford the skip company applies for the highway permit itself, for up to 28 days. From April 2026 a firm on the council's skip register pays £20.76 per skip outside a home and £40 on a builder's site. Scaffolding over the road needs a permit in the scaffolder's name, two weeks' notice and £5 million of public liability cover; a registered firm pays £6.20 a square metre per 28 days on a house, with a £62 minimum. On the day, the skip should be gone and the scaffold clear of the windows.

The crew comes by van and needs it near the door all day, so a drive or a visitor permit is best. Where a trades vehicle has to sit on a yellow line or in a permit bay, Salford sells a dispensation online for £10 a day, booked 24 hours ahead; it covers commercial vehicles and cars with livery only, and is no use in pay and display bays. Suspending bays costs £15 a day per two-metre space with 72 hours' notice. In the Blackfriars and Trinity zone on the Manchester boundary, waiting is restricted 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 12.30pm on Saturdays.

Salford has 16 conservation areas, among them the Crescent, Ellesmere Park in Eccles, Monton Green, and Worsley Village and Roe Green/Beesley Green in Worsley. Inside them a side extension, a rear extension of more than one storey, a loft extension or new cladding needs planning permission, and at Mines Rescue Station an Article 4 Direction protects the fronts of 1930s semis. In houses like these the crew treats sash windows, tiled hall floors and old glass gently, and says on the day if a paint fleck will not come off safely.

A small HMO for three to six people needs planning permission across nearly all of Salford; only Boothstown and Ellenbrook, Higher Irlam and Peel Green, and Cadishead and Lower Irlam wards sit outside the Article 4 Directions. Private landlords in Eccles, Barton and Winton need a selective licence until September 2027 (£609 for a first application), and a second scheme covers Broughton, Kersal and Broughton Park until January 2031. From 24 November 2026 a further designation, due to run until 24 November 2031, adds every section 257 HMO. Landlords getting a flat ready to let usually want the clean done before the licence inspection and the listing photos.