What is really Britains second city?  Oficially its supposed to be
Birmingham,  but isnt Manchester the fastest growing city in the UK? 
I have heared many people refer to Manchester as Britains second city.
 What is Manchesters potential?

Hello,

Actually, Manchester is the most quickly depopulating city in Britain.
From 1981 to 2001, Manchester's population dropped by 15.1 percent.
Most of that decline came after 1991. The metropolitan county of
Greater Manchester had a population decline of 5.2 percent in the
1981-2001 period.

Birmingham's population declined 4.3 percent in the 20-year period. 

As of 2001, Birmingham's population was 977,100, putting it a solid
second in population among British cities. Manchester has 392,800
people. The metropolitan county of West Midlands, which includes
Birmingham, has a slightly larger population than Greater Manchester
(2.56 million to 2.48 million)

The fastest-growing city in Britain is the planned London suburb of
Milton Keynes, which grew by more that 64 percent over the 20-year
period.

This information comes from National Statistics UK's Census 2001
population data page at
(http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/population_data.asp). Click
on the "Local authority % changes (Excel files)" in the bottom right
for the numbers.

I hope this answer meets your needs. If it does not, please request
clarification.

Search strategy:

Manchester population growth
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Manchester+population+growth

Britain largest cities Manchester Birmingham
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Britain+largest+cities+Manchester+Birmingham

Birmingham Census 2001
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Birmingham+Census+2001

I have no reason to doubt any of mwalcoff's answer but I live in
Yorkshire, England, and have worked much of this year in Manchester,
so should be able to add a personal viewpoint.

There has a huge amount of activity going on in Manchester over the
last few years. A lot of building work is being done and a lot of new
businesses are moving in. It was never a pretty city but now there's a
lot to look at.

Partly this activity is due to a growing media profile. Manchester
United football team has been one of the most successful clubs in the
world over the last ten years, and certainly one of the most widely
supported. It has been said that most Man U supporters have never seen
Manchester. It has also just played host to the Commonwealth Games
which is a global media event.

The other major reason for the activity is because the IRA (Irish
Republican Army) blew up a large chunk of the city centre in 1996 and
the city's program of rebuilding has been outstanding.

Check out the following site for details:

Manchester 2002/3
http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/buildings/bombing.html.

The pictures on the above site look very familiar to me as I have
walked past ground zero most working days this year.

It claims that rebuilding was finished in 2000 but this is dubious.
While the buildings destroyed may have been technically replaced, they
have not all reopened yet and other buildings have only just been
finished off.

As far as a second city, while Birmingham has been traditional, my
current vote would go for Leeds, which is situated in the centre of
the north of England, slap bang on two of the busiest motorways in the
country (the M1 going vertically up the middle and the M62 going
horizontally from coast to coast). It has also seen a huge growth in
building activity and new business. That the Royal Armouries has moved
there is very telling.