There’s not many weeks that go by without a mention of how #Stokeisontheup (especially in my tweets!) - and it’s great to see this article in today’s Sentinel, highlighting some of the major achievements of the last few years since we took control of Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
Some of the highlights for me include recognition that we have one of the top 10 fastest growing economies outside London and the South East, with continuing growth of manufacturing at 15%, which is above the national average.
We continue to see an increase in people visiting the city, with an additional 100,000 day visitors in 2016, boosting visitor number to 4.8m (and that was before the City of Culture exposure!). Ever more people take advantage of our excellent rail connectivity, with 3.1m people using Stoke Station last year, which is more than 12 times the population of the city. The additional benefit of being HS2 connected can only grow that figure.
It’s also great to see the city championed by The Times and Sunday Times respectively, as an increasingly popular visitor destination. The Times listed Stoke-on-Trent as number 11 in its Top 20 Most Cultural Places, whilst the Sunday Times named the city as one of the best places to live in the Midlands.
Definitely #Stokeisontheup !