Plans for nearly 5,000 new homes in city

Stoke-on-Trent City Council says there is an "urgent need" for more housing in the city

Plans to deliver nearly 5,000 homes to meet a city's "urgent need" for housing are set to be approved by councillors.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has devised a housing development pipeline to help meet the government's national target of delivering 1.5m new homes a year.

The programme will see the authority work with Homes England, developers and landowners to deliver 4,857 houses across 23 sites in the city.

The council's cabinet is being asked to approve the plans at their next meeting in July.

Sites include completed and near-completed developments, such as Goods Yard and Chatterley Court in Chell Heath, as well as sites under development, such as Scotia Road and Bournes Bank in Burslem, Booth Street in Stoke, the former Doris Robinson Court site in Meir and the former Brookhouse Primary School site in Wellfield Road, Bentilee.

According to the council, the number of applicants on their housing register has been climbing over the last three years.

There are more than 3,138 households on the register, a 41% increase in the last 12 months. Over half of those households are in urgent and high need for accommodation.

At the same time, the council's housing stock has fallen by 2,550 homes -13% - over the last 10 years.

Almost 1,800 homes included in the council's housing pipeline project are expected to be affordable homes for people on the housing register.

In addition to this, the council is proposing to deliver an Empty Homes programme of around 100 new homes per year.

Councillor Chris Robinson said: "We recognise that there is an urgent need to deliver new homes in the city to meet the increasing demand and, while it will be challenging, we are committed to working closely with our partners to increase the pace and scale of housebuilding across Stoke-on-Trent.

"We need to act quickly and take action to ensure all our residents can access decent homes in a city where they can stay, grow and thrive – and watch their children do the same."