My first Personally Speaking column for the Sentinel talks about the administration’s ambitions for the next four years, and a little bit about me!
Just over 50 days ago, residents of Stoke-on-Trent used the local elections to send a strong message about the direction of travel they wanted the city to continue in. Change had been good in 2015, but now they wanted continuity. Re-forming a coalition between the Conservative Group and our City Independent colleagues felt like very much what residents wanted.
Over the last four years we have done great things together, working with communities, businesses and other organisations to build a city we can all be proud of. We’ve celebrated good news around a growing economy - confirmed recently as the fourth quickest growing in the UK - supported by projects such as the Ceramic Valley Enterprise Zone, and successful promotion of the city through bidding to be UK City of Culture in 2021 and hosting spectacles such as the poppies at Middleport. House prices are rising, and the City Council was recently awarded Council of the Year for our strategic housing approach. This upturn in the local economy was recognised through our success in securing a business rates pilot, which sees residents benefit even more from the growth of businesses in the city.
This approach of working to secure economic growth, means we are better able to address some of the challenges both society and the city are facing. We know our older residents want to stay in their own homes living independently and in the last few years have worked hard to transform our adult social care service to better support this. We are now one of the best councils in the country for getting older residents smoothly back home after a hospital stay, and huge credit for this turnaround lies with my colleague, Cllr Ann James.
Another challenge is around children’s social care, where we have experienced rising numbers of children and young people coming into the council’s care. We have started a journey to transform this most important element of what we do, and I am confident that, working together with staff and partners, we will demonstrate a marked improvement over the next few years.
Our ambition to make Stoke-on-Trent a great place to live, work and visit remains undimmed - I believe our city is fantastic, and I’ve spent much of the last four years in my previous role as Deputy Leader promoting all the great things we have here. World class businesses, amazing attractions and the friendliest communities you can ever hope to meet all lie within Stoke-on-Trent.
As someone who has known Stoke-on-Trent all my live, I often have to remind myself how things have changed. The sixth form college I attended is now a school, and the hospital where I had one of my first jobs has been replaced. Closer to home, former derelict sites near where I live in Meir are now businesses and homes. I remember the old bus station in Hanley from when I was in school, and visiting the precinct with my mum - watching it being demolished is the end of an era, but also the start of a new chapter for the city.
The skyline is changing, new businesses and homes are arriving, and I’m excited about the opportunities ahead of us. In the last few weeks, we’ve been working hard to begin addressing some of the challenges we face - with less money coming from government, we’re having to carefully consider the services we provide and really focus on what residents need. We’ve also redoubled our efforts to attract new businesses and investment to the city, to support our growing economy, which in turns helps provide services for residents.
But we need everyone to help us achieve this - whether it’s supporting shops in your local town or telling your friends about what we have to offer here in Stoke-on-Trent, you’ll be playing your part in moving our city forward. Together, I know we can ensure that Stoke continues to be on the up.
