Economic Regeneration in Staffordshire

Physical Regeneration

Staffordshire is a county renowned not just for Potteries, but also for steel, coal mining and other extractive industries. The historical legacy was a despoiled landscape, both in urban and rural areas market by spoil tips and other forms of dereliction.

The worst aspects of this legacy have been removed over the past 25 years by the dedicated effort of the local authorities in reclaiming derelict land to bring it into beneficial use. The County Council has been proud to take a lead role in this effort.

Work initially concentrated on improving the image by the removal of black spoil tips and other eye-sores. More recently, the priority has been the creation of good quality land for employment generating purposes.

Recent successes, such as at Lymedale Business Park (on the site of the former Holditch Colliery) shows a high demand for quality sites, a phenomena not predicted because of a historic lack of supply. Such has been the scale of the regeneration effort that very few former mining sites remain to be converted from their brownfield past. Silverdale Colliery (the last pit to close in Staffordshire) has undergone a major reclamation and regeneration programme to create Silverdale Business Park and Silverdale Enterprise Centre. However, there are other brownfield sites that remain available for regeneration purposes either for employment, residential or public open space/amenity use. The County Council is continuing to target these sites to provide land of the quality that the property market demands, and for environmental improvements to further the task of removing blight and to improve the image of Staffordshire.

Information on the Forward Programme of regeneration developments and an example of a major environmental improvement project (A5 Corridor Landscape Improvements) can be found below.

Forward Programme

The industrial heritage of Staffordshire has left a considerable legacy of derelict and despoiled land, the majority of which originated from the coal industry, together with military dereliction. Local partners, together with Staffordshire County Council, have been very successful in reclaiming and servicing derelict sites for economic and other end uses over the years. Although a considerable amount of land has been reclaimed, dereliction is still a major issue in the County. This is, in part, because new dereliction has been caused through the closure of business operations such as, for example, power stations and major companies. 
  
It is now hard to predict future patterns of dereliction in the context of an economy that is more stable than it has been for many years. The possibility of significant industrial closures remains but the historical sources have already been exhausted through extinction or through the operation of Planning Controls that require effective restoration of mining and mineral workings. There is also a considerable challenge in bringing forward a number of sites allocated in development plans, which have remained undeveloped for long periods of time.

There is, therefore, a need to look to the future, to identify potential regeneration sites throughout Staffordshire and undertake an initial appraisal of their status, possible role and priority in a future Regeneration Programme. This will contribute towards Staffordshire County Council's overall mission of improving the economic, social and environmental well being of the people of Staffordshire.

For further information on the Forward Programme, including a schedule of sites, please contact Rob Fletcher on 01785 276792.

Last Modified: 23/04/2008 08:30:08
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