Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough and is the principal
settlement in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, North West
England. It is the sixth largest city in the United Kingdom with a population
of 510,700 (2012 est.). It lies within the United Kingdom's second most
populous urban area which has a population of 2.55 million. Manchester is
located in the south-central part of North West England, fringed by the
Cheshire Plain to the south and the Pennines to the north and east, and an arc
of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation. The local authority is
Manchester City Council,
