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Community action/Stoke-on-Trent

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Hanley Park, August 2011. Attribution: Tanya Dedyukhina
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Location Stoke-on-Trent, West Midlands
Coordinates 53° 1' 31.96" N, 2° 12' 7.67" W

The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Stoke-on-Trent.

Stoke-on-Trent
West Midlands
UK
Europe
Earth
  • News ‘This May Day is a Celebration of Work and Innovation’, Dave Proudlove, thestokemodel.com (May 01, 2024)
  • News If 400,000 groups, causes and charities could consciously generate social capital, says Mike Riddell, a "caravan of love" would start, The Daily Alternative (Jul 23, 2022)
  • "The Market Hall is going to become the Souk of Stoke". Regeneration practitioner Mike Riddell says Burslem will be a showcase for "communification", Mar 15, 2021...thealternative.org.uk

Read more

  • News The English community that brought its river back from the brink: ‘If we can get it right here, we can do it everywhere’, theguardian.com (May 20, 2026)
  • News How volunteers are saving the River Wye with citizen science, cpre.org.uk (Mar 30, 2026)
  • News Heritage railway launches hydrogen-powered train, BBC News (Feb 27, 2026)
  • News Record-breaking heat and dry spring leave parts of England without water, reuters.com (May 29, 2026)
  • News The English restaurant turning hospitality on its head, positive.news (May 27, 2026) — At a pay-as-you-can restaurant in Stroud, radical hospitality and good food are bringing strangers together
  • News Britain’s green transition should belong to everyone. Why is Labour so intent on stopping us having our say? George Monbiot, theguardian.com (May 27, 2026)
  • News Amsterdam, along with other major European cities, bans public adverts for meat and fossil fuels [BBC], Daily Alternative (May 22, 2026)
  • News How reindeer herds, nature and Sámi culture can thrive when forests are restored across northern Europe, theconversation.com (May 15, 2026)
  • News Rewilding giants: captive elephants rehomed in Europe’s first sanctuary, theguardian.com (May 07, 2026)
  • News Amsterdam, along with other major European cities, bans public adverts for meat and fossil fuels [BBC], Daily Alternative (May 22, 2026)
  • News Solidarity fields in Syria: Reviving local seed production, globalvoices.org (May 21, 2026) — A community garden on Damascus's edge is quietly rebuilding Syria's agricultural memory
  • News How reindeer herds, nature and Sámi culture can thrive when forests are restored across northern Europe, theconversation.com (May 15, 2026)

Networks

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  • Counter Community, describe themselves as "...a membership network and digital platform that enables organizations and individuals to work together for social change and to boost the local economy." They are currently running a pilot in North Staffordshire. added 17:11, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
Cosmolocal discovery club

Each week 3 different short videos from across the UK or world.

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Future Rural Voices: perspectives on the countryside’s future
Authors: Campaign to Protect Rural England, 2.35 mins.
Date: 2026-05-07
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Local Power, Lower Bills: Up the Energy!
Authors: Community Energy England, 1.38 mins.
Date: 2026-03-10
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Tiree - This is Community Wealth Building
Authors: Scottish Community Alliance, 3.44 mins.
Date: 2025-11-18

Rural sustainability UK, Community energy UK, Community action/Argyll and Bute / ...This week's featured Global videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism

UK and international events

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UK events

  • Event Jun 1 - 7, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Neighbourhood Watch Week, ourwatch.org.uk
  • Event Jun 1 - 7, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Volunteers Week, celebrating and saying thank you to the millions of volunteers across the UK, volunteersweek.org
  • Event Jun 5 - 8, 2026 (Fri - Mon) — The Big Lunch, the first weekend in June every year, everyone is invited, anyone can join in and whatever food people bring to the table is there to be shared, edenprojectcommunities.com
  • Event Jun 6 - 14, 2026 (Sat-Sun) — Great Big Green Week, celebrating communities taking action to tackle climate change and protect green spaces, greatbiggreenweek.com
  • Event Jun 07, 2026 (Sun) — Open Farm Sunday, farmsunday.org
  • Event Jun 8 - 14, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Bike Week, annual celebration showcasing cycling and how brilliant it is!, cyclinguk.org
  • Event Jun 8 - 14, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Carers Week, carersweek.org
  • Event Jun 15 - 21, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Better Transport Week, annual, week-long celebration of sustainable transport, bettertransport.org.uk
  • Event Jun 15 - 21, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Refugee Week, refugeeweek.org.uk
  • Event Jun 15 - 21, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Loneliness Awareness Week, lonelinessawarenessweek.org
  • Event Jun 18, 2026 (Thu) — Clean Air Day, actionforcleanair.org.uk
  • Event Jun 19 - 21, 2026 (Fri - Sun) — The Great Get Together, annual celebration organised by The Jo Cox Foundation, helping unite people, bridge divides, and tackle loneliness, while showing the collective power we have as a community, jocoxfoundation.org
  • Event Jun 29 - Jul 3, 2026 (Mon - Fri) — National Co-production Week, scie.org.uk

UK community action events

Global or international events

  • Event Jun 03, 2026 (Wed) — World Bicycle Day, The bicycle is a "symbol of sustainable transport and conveys a positive message to foster sustainable consumption and production, and has a positive impact on climate." (United Nations), June 3 each year, un.org
  • Event Jun 05, 2026 (Fri)World Environment Day, June 5, annually, worldenvironmentday.global
  • Event Jun 08, 2026 (Mon) — World Oceans Day, June 8 each year, worldoceanday.org
  • Event Jun 12, 2026 (Fri) — World Day Against Child Labour, every year on June 12, ilo.org
  • Event Jun 17, 2026 (Wed) — World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, each June 17, un.org
  • Event Jun 21 and all of June — World Localization Day, worldlocalizationday.org
  • Event Jun 22, 2026 (Mon) — World Rainforest Day, June 22 is World Rainforest Day, worldrainforestday.org

2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events

Video

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Students take on 24 hour sustainability challenge
Authors: Staffordshire University, Feb 13, 2020

Community involvement

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  • All the Small Things, collective of community development practitioners - information on corganisers.org.uk

Community and voluntary action

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Food activism

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Community energy

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In 2014, Stoke-on-Trent City Council announced plans for a £52 million project to create a district heating network powered by geothermal energy. This will provide heating, in the form of hot water, to local customers. As of 2024, the heating network had finished building, but the geothermal project was yet to start. Planning permission was requested for the third time in 2024, after develop Star Energy had let previous permission expire twice.

Community resources

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Maps

Research

  • What Makes for a Good Life in Stoke-on-Trent? July 2017 cusp.ac.uk

Art, sport and culture

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  • Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire Cultural Education Partnership, stokecep.co.uk, added 16:42, 19 February 2021 (UTC)
  • Port Vale Foundation Trust, registered charity, using the Port Vale brand to engage, inspire and motivate individuals of all ages and backgrounds, providing programmes, events and courses in four core areas: Sport, Health, Education and Inclusion.

Climate action

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Research: Energy and carbon, information about Stoke-on-Trent from pcancities.org.uk, Place Based Climate Action Network, added 16:16, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Sustainable transport

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The city is served by the Trent and Mersey Canal, which sees traffic of some 10,000 boats a year. The Caldon Canal branches off from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Etruria, within the city boundaries, going to Froghall with one branch going to Leek.

Cycling activism

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As of November 2009, there were 77 miles (124 km) of new National Cycle Network off-road bicycle paths through the city, connecting to the national long-distance paths which were completed in 2005. Together with those in Newcastle-under-Lyme, there are now over 100 miles (160 km) of cycle paths in the urban conurbation. A further £10  million of funding has now been secured for the city's cycling network, to be spent in 2009–2011 through Cycling England's support for Stoke as a Cycling City.

Biodiversity

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Westport Lake is a lake and local nature reserve in Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England, about 0.8 miles (1.3 km) south of Tunstall. It is alongside the Trent and Mersey Canal.

It is owned by the Canal and River Trust, and is operated by Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

The visitor centre at Westport Lake was operated by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust until the end of September 2024.

The lake is the largest expanse of water in Stoke-on-Trent. There is a level footpath of about 1 mile (1.6 km) around the lake. There is waterfowl on the lake, and it is an overwintering site for many species.

Environment quality

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  • Air quality in Stoke-on-Trent, information from iqair.com

Open spaces

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Stoke is at the centre of the Stoke-on-Trent Green Belt, which is an environment and planning policy that regulates the rural space in Staffordshire surrounding the city and Newcastle-under-Lyme, and extending into Cheshire. It is in place to prevent urban sprawl and minimise further convergence with outlying settlements such as Kidsgrove and Biddulph. First defined in 1967, the vast majority of area covered is outside the city.

Each of the six towns in Stoke-on-Trent has at least one park. At nine hectares, Burslem Park is one of the largest registered Victorian parks in the UK.[45] Park Hall Country Park in Weston Coyney is a national nature reserve, and its sandstone canyons are a Site of Special Scientific Interest.[46] Hartshill Park in Stoke is also a nature reserve, and Bucknall Park is home to the City Farm. Westport Lake in Longport is the largest body of water in Stoke-on-Trent and has a nature reserve. Queens Park or Longton park in Dresden is one of the city's heritage parks and is famous for its horticulture and lakes. It houses several buildings including a clock tower and three bowling pavilions. W

Towards sustainable economies

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  • The Stoke Model, #bekind is a Community Benefit Society based in Burslem, established and run by volunteers and activists and tapping into the Wedgwood spirit to build The Stoke Model, a pioneering approach to genuine community wealth building that is underpinned by a philosophy of creative collaboration. added 11:53, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

Social inclusion

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News archive

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2019-2020

About Stoke-on-Trent

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Stoke-on-Trent, often known as Stoke, is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It had an estimated population of 259,965 in 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire and one of the largest cities of the Midlands. Stoke is surrounded by the towns of Alsager, Biddulph, Cheadle, Kidsgrove, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stone, which form a conurbation around the city.

The city is polycentric, formed from the federation of six towns in 1910. It took its name from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent, where the main centre of government and the principal railway station in the district were located. Hanley is the primary commercial centre. The other four towns which form the city are Burslem, Tunstall, Longton, and Fenton.

As the home of the pottery industry in England, the area is known as The Potteries. It is a centre for service industries and distribution centres. It formerly had a primarily heavy industry sector.

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Page data
Keywords Cities, UK cities
SDG SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities
Authors Phil Green
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 2 pages link here
Redirects Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke-on-Trent community action
Views 47 page views (analytics)
Created February 19, 2021 by Phil Green
Last edit December 16, 2025 by Felipe Schenone
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