Stoke-On-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is based in North Staffordshire which is a sub-Region of the West Midlands in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest City in the West Midlands Region, after Birmingham. The city is is made up of areas traditionally devoted to industrial sectors in terminal decline. The main industries were coal, steel and ceramics but both the coal and steel industries have now ceased to operate in the area and ceramics have drastically reduced their output due to international competition and outsourcing. However, at Q2 2004 the unemployment rate had recovered to almost the same as in the wider West Midlands. KPMG's 'Competitive Alternatives 2004' report declared Stoke-on-Trent to be the most cost-effective place to set up a new UK business, which shows the efforts made by the city council through projects such as the "North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership". Website :

As the regeneration of the region picks up speed, the UNIC project will be crucial in assisting our area in terms of local sustainability and in particular the increased opportunities for citizens of the North Staffordshire cities, towns, urban and rural neighbourhoods to find sustainable employment within their own regions.

It is also essential that we ensure that the organisations which have survived are provided with support networks to enable them to grow and change their businesses to accommodate the new markets and opportunities being brought into the region.

The city’s main challenge is “to continue its transformation from a declining manufacturing town into a more competitive economy, building on its rich ceramics heritage to attract knowledge based services and creative industries”. One key element within this strategy is the organisation of the British Ceramics Biennial event, major new project for Stoke on Trent, building on the experience of the Stoke Ceramics Festival 2003-07. The British Ceramics Biennial is intended to become a flagship cultural event that will significantly advance the North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnerships’ strategies for the cultural industries.