Stoke-on-Trent is brilliantly positioned in the centre of the UK - perfectly situated to access the M6/M1/A50/A500, right on the West Coast mainline, and within an hour of 4 major airports. However, transport within the city itself can be testing, with major routes reaching congestion and public transport connectivity poor. This is a challenge that we’ve tried to overcome through schemes driven by the Council - but the reality is that the cost of these schemes is often far more than we can afford, especially alongside the other investments we are making to improve facilities across the city.
However, we recently put in a bid to the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund, which was allocating £1.7bn to getting cities moving. Half of the money has been allocated to large cities with mayors, whilst the remaining £850m is being targeted at other cities such as Stoke-on-Trent. Our bid focuses on better moving people around the city, to and from key locations such as Stoke Station, the city centre, and Festival Park/Etruria Valley, where Bet365 and Vodafone are based. This is also part of the Ceramic Valley Enterprise Zone and a major jobs city for the city. Stoke station has seen footfall grow hugely in recent years, with over 3m people using it last year. Routes would focus on bringing people in along some of the most congested corridors in the city, such as Meir and Stockton Brook, using new modern modes, such as light rail and trams. People have long told me that we need a metro in Stoke-on-Trent, and this could be how we get it!
Here’s a link to a Sentinel story about how we would potentially envision this scheme if successful.