Businesses are being urged to get involved in shaping a new company aimed at attracting investment and expanding Stoke-on-Trent’s role in driving growth.
The Stoke-on-Trent Growth Company has been launched to unlock the city’s full potential and make it a key driver in economic expansion regionally.
It is being launched by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, but the aim is to quickly transform it into a separate body – an arm’s length organisation that will be dedicated to managing all investment and business development needs.
It will be based around five key themes that are seen as integral to future prosperity. They are:
- Invest
- Support
- Employ
- Visit
- Create
Among its key roles will be focussing on rolling out the red carpet to encourage further inward investment from companies looking to relocate, assisting start-ups and supporting existing firms.
The company will work with business and health partners to deliver a new health programme for the city, which will aim to play a vital role in preventing thousands of people falling into long-term unemployment each year due to ill health.
It was also help develop and deliver an enhanced Stoke on Trent cultural strategy to tap into the area’s industrial and creative heritage.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council Leader Abi Brown unveiled the plans for the new company. She said: “Stoke-on-Trent is a unique city with characteristics, challenges and opportunities that cannot be found anywhere else.
“This merits a bespoke approach to delivering economic growth that is tailored to local needs, strength and aspirations.
“The plans for the Stoke-on-Trent Growth Company are based on partnerships, collaboration, shared leadership and joint responsibility.
“This is why we are keen to involve as many businesses and organisations as possible in having their say on how the company should move forward.”
The new project will be discussed in detail at the next Stoke-on-Trent City Forum meeting, which takes place on Tuesday, 7 March. At the event, partners and stakeholders will have the opportunity to help shape how the company will work in practice.
