local councillors, giving Urmston 12 of the 63 seats on Trafford Council. Geography Urmston occupies an area of , at (53.4487, −2.3747); it is approximately above sea level at its highest point. The land is relatively flat, sloping gently from north to south. Urmston's climate is generally temperate, with few extremes of temperature or weather. The mean temperature is slightly above average for the United Kingdom. Annual rainfall and average amount of sunshine are both slightly below the average for the UK. Urmston comprises the areas of Davyhulme, Dumplington, Flixton and Urmston, with the River Mersey forming the southern boundary. For administrative reasons, Partington is sometimes considered to be part of Urmston. The most southerly part of Urmston lies within the flood plain of the River Mersey, an area known as Urmston Meadows, part of the Mersey Valley. Much work was carried out in the 1970s to canalise the Mersey, in an effort to speed up the flow of floodwater and thus reduce the risk of flooding. Upstream emergency floodbasins such as Sale Water Park, lying just to the east of Urmston, have also been constructed. The M60 Manchester orbital motorway passes through the northern half of Urmston, from southeast to northwest, and the M62 motorway lies just to the west. The Thirlmere Aqueduct also passes through the Urmston area. Demography As of the 2001 UK census, Urmston had a population of 40,964. The population density was , and for every 100 females, there were 93.0 males. Of the 19,172 households in Urmston, 39.9% were married couples living together, 29.6% were one-person households, 7.7% were co-habiting couples and 8.9% were lone parents. Of those aged 16–74 in Urmston, 25.5% had no academic qualifications, slightly high compared to 21.3% for all of Trafford but slightly lower than the 28.9% in England. Economy The Trafford Centre, a large shopping and leisure complex, is at Dumplington. Some locals felt that it brought about the decline of Urmston Precinct, the town's central shopping area – dating back to the 1960s – where many units closed or became "pound shops". Beginning in 2007, Urmston Precinct was demolished and a £45 million redevelopment of the site got underway, to include of retail and leisure space and 144 apartments. This redevelopment project is now known as Eden Square, open between 2009 and 2012 and includes shops such as Sainsburys, Aldi, Iceland, Quality Save, Greggs and Boots, along