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You are here: Why Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire > LEP Region > Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent is in the top 10 fastest growing economies in the country outside of London. Manufacturing growth is at 15 per cent since 2009, higher than the national average. And there is good news for business start-ups: more new businesses perform well in their first year in Stoke-on-Trent than national and regional averages.
The Ceramic industry is thriving. Established names in the industry are securing more and more orders and many of the new names in the industry are gaining fame throughout the world. Ceramics companies are reporting major successes, with strong export growth and creation of new jobs.
The rapidly developing Ceramic Valley Enterprise Zone has already attracted 1,000 jobs, with dozens of businesses showing an interest in locating to one of the sites.
Education standards are rapidly improving. A record 86 per cent of Stoke-on-Trent schools are rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted. The council is helping to lead a maths hub, to train and retain the best quality maths teachers in the city. Staffordshire University is investing £50m in creating stand-out facilities and courses for students to thrive; and almost every 16-17 year old in the city – 97.5 per cent – is in education, employment or training.
Stoke-on-Trent is more popular with day-trippers than ever before: latest figures show a 100,000 rise year-on-year, with 4.8m visits in 2016. More and more people are using the city’s excellent rail connectivity: last year over 3.1 million passengers used Stoke Station – 12 times the city’s population.
The city has hit national headlines: The Times and Sunday Times, in successive surveys, have championed Stoke-on-Trent as a visitor destination. The Times has ranked our city 11th in its top 20 cultural places to live; while the Sunday Times name-checked Stoke-on-Trent as one of the best places to live in the Midlands because of our creative resurgence, ahead of Nottingham, Stratford-on-Avon, Northamptonshire and a string of other areas. Alongside this, Money Supermarket ranks the city as the 10th best place to bring up a family in the country.
What more can we say – it’s a great place to live, work and invest. Why not have a look?
Stoke-on-Trent City Council: www.stoke.gov.uk
