North Staffordshire

North Staffordshire describes an area of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It contains the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire Moorlands and the City of Stoke-on-Trent. The Stoke and Newcastle areas make up The Potteries Urban Area, whilst the Moorlands are largely rural.

The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme had a 2001 census population of 122,040. The population of Stoke-on-Trent was 240,636, whilst the Staffordshire Moorlands population was 94,489. This gave an area wide population of 457,165 at 2001.

North Staffordshire industries of the 20th century included the potteries (ceramics), coal mining and steel production. Pottery companies from the area include Royal Doulton, Wedgwood, Portmerrion, Wade, Johnson Brothers, who were all based in the pottery towns in North Staffordshire. By 2002 there had been a complete loss of coal mining and steel production. Ceramics production once employed 70,000 in around 200 firms, but at 2011 there were only 30 large firms remaining. Major employment sectors are now distribution, leisure, online services, higher education, healthcare, engineering, and a diminished ceramics sector. The area has ambitions to develop its high-growth knowledge-based industries in future.

Transport for the area during the Industrial Revolution was initially based on canals from the 18th century, with the Trent and Mersey canal connecting the Mersey with the River Trent. The restored canals now offer green leisure transport routes, and they carry around 10,000 narrowboat pleasure trips each year. The Railways arrived in the 1850s. Railways still serve the area, with frequent intercity trains from Stoke-on-Trent to London, Birmingham and Birmingham International Airport, and Manchester. The area is served by the M6 motorway.

The region is home to two universities, Keele University and Staffordshire University at Stoke-on-Trent, and also the major University Hospital of North Staffordshire.

The region is served from Stoke-on-Trent by a variety of media, including BBC Radio Stoke, 6 Towns radio, Signal 1 radio, and Cross Rhythms radio. The main local newspaper is The Sentinel. There are also small town-based local newspapers, and a variety of hyperlocal online news websites.