Cabinet recommended to `Say Yes to North Staffordshire` as local government reorganisation progresses

Cabinet Members at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council will be recommended to make an enlarged North Staffordshire Council its preferred option for local government reorganisation, when they meet on 8 July.

The Government has made it clear that all remaining district, borough, county and small unitary councils will disappear from April 2028 to be replaced by unitary councils serving around 500,000 people and having responsibilities for all services.

The Moorlands' proposal would see Staffordshire Moorlands District, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough, Stoke-on-Trent City, Stone, Uttoxeter, and some villages around Stone and Uttoxeter become part of a new North Staffordshire Council serving a population of around 536,000.

Importantly, it would achieve a good balance with the option from other Staffordshire councils for a Southern and Mid Staffordshire Council serving 598,000.

The Government is seeking proposals that would enable new unitary councils to be complimentary, citing the need for `sensible geographic and economic areas, financial sustainability, and a sense of place and community`.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Mike Gledhill, says: "We set up a politically balanced Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation Sub Committee at Staffordshire Moorlands in March to consider a range of options.

"We were keen to research all options possible within the criteria set by the Government, in its English Devolution White Paper published last December, especially as this is the biggest change in local government for 50 years. We hope to achieve an outcome that can last for another 50 years.

"We know that economic prosperity, representation and identity are all important to our residents and so it is our responsibility to make sure Staffordshire Moorlands' interests are well served in the changes that will come.

"We have been considering four options for change. They include Staffordshire County Council's preference for a Staffordshire wide unitary absorbing all the current district and borough councils, with a population of 876,000 and Stoke-on-Trent staying as it is and serving 258,000 people, and Stoke-on-Trent City Council's own North Staffordshire Council proposal which covered a smaller area and population than our proposal.

"Our view is that Option D, as we are calling it in the Cabinet papers to be discussed on 8 July at a Cabinet meeting, is the most compelling case for change and future prosperity.

"We asked Mutual Ventures, an independent company that aims to make public services better, to appraise all four options that we have identified. We have also looked at the finances of neighbouring councils and the potential for growth including the key A50/A500 corridor that is vital to the North Staffordshire economy.

"We have looked at how to achieve a broadly equal number of councillors and fair representation for all residents, in the city, towns and villages in a new North Staffordshire Council.

"Cabinet will consider in detail all the data and information gathered when it meets. It will consider if Option D should indeed be our preferred option. Then on 9 July, at a special Council Assembly, all Staffordshire Moorlands councillors will have the chance to consider recommendations, after when we hope to have a clear steer on the next steps we should take as a Council in progressing local government reorganisation.

"What will not change is the identity of the Staffordshire Moorlands, the legacy of this Council and achievements it has made, nor the towns and villages that make up this special part of the county. They will continue but would in future be served by a new unitary council. Town and parish councils will continue to operate as they do now.

"A North Staffordshire unitary council, balanced with a Southern and Mid Staffordshire unitary council offers a great future for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. We are recommending an imaginative and ambitious proposal that meets the Government's criteria, whilst putting the interests of the Staffordshire Moorlands first - in terms of quality of service, finance and representation."

The Government has asked for final proposals to be submitted by 28 November. Staffordshire Moorlands District Council will be discussing devolution and reorganisation with other councils and its stakeholders before that deadline. The Government will hold a consultation with the public between January and April 2026. It will make its final decision next summer, with new unitary councils to replace the existing councils from April 2028.

You can read the Cabinet papers and watch the meeting online at 2pm on 8 July 

The Council Assembly at 6pm on 9 July can also be watched online

Published 30 June 2025