Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in North West England with an estimated population of 512,000. It lies within the United Kingdom's second most populous urban area which has a population of 2,553,379. 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, and the city's inhabitants are referred to as Mancunians