STOKE: MANUFACTURING POWERHOUSE
Recognition for Stoke-on-Trent
The findings have been welcomed by Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce, which said they highlighted the strength of Stoke-on-Trent’ s manufacturing foundations and its potential to benefit from the continued development of advanced technology.
Stuart Elford said:“ This is welcome recognition of Stoke-on-Trent’ s enormous potential as a modern manufacturing centre and of the strengths that already exist across the city and wider Staffordshire economy.
“ Our manufacturing heritage, skilled workforce, industrial capacity and major employers give us a strong foundation, while improving digital connectivity creates exciting opportunities for businesses to embrace AI and advanced manufacturing technologies.
“ The challenge now is to turn that potential into sustained investment, higher productivity and good-quality jobs. That will require continued focus on infrastructure, innovation and developing the skills employers need, alongside close collaboration between businesses, education providers and government.
“ Stoke-on-Trent has all the ingredients to play a leading role in the future of UK manufacturing. We must now ensure it receives the support and investment needed to fulfil that promise.”
The city’ s ranking has also been welcomed by Stoke-on-Trent South and the Villages MP Dr Allison Gardner.
She said the findings underlined the case she has been making to
STUART ELFORD
Government for greater investment in Stoke-on-Trent and the A50 / A500 Growth Corridor.
Dr Gardner said:“ This report is welcome recognition of what I have been saying since my election: Stoke-on-Trent has enormous manufacturing potential.
“ We have the businesses, expertise and workforce. Now we need the investment in infrastructure, skills and innovation to turn that potential into growth and good jobs.
“ I will continue to make the case to Government for investment in the A50 / A500 Growth Corridor and for Stoke-on-Trent to be recognised as the UK’ s advanced ceramics cluster.
“ We have the potential to be a major part of Britain’ s reindustrialisation. Now we need Government investment to match that potential.”
Measuring the ingredients for growth
The emerging cities index focuses on the factors Unleashed identified as indicators of manufacturing growth potential.
MP DR ALLISON GARDNER
The number of manufacturing units was used to indicate the strength of the existing manufacturing community, while workforce size measured the number of people already employed within the sector.
Warehousing space was included as a measure of the industrial property available to manufacturers, with broadband speeds used to assess the connectivity required to support advanced manufacturing.
Stoke-on-Trent’ s overall score placed it narrowly ahead of Leeds despite significant differences in the scale of the two cities’ existing manufacturing communities.
Leeds achieved an index score of 63.9, supported by its 1,560 manufacturing units, workforce of 27,000 and average broadband speed of 107 Mbps. It had 6.879m ² of warehousing space per 10,000 residents.
Birmingham recorded 2,105 manufacturing units- the highest total among the emerging cities— alongside a workforce of 28,000. Its average download speed was 75 Mbps, while it had 5.949m ² of warehousing space per 10,000 residents.
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