The Pathfinder scheme – called RENEW North Staffordshire – aims to reverse the spiral of decline and create a better quality of life for people living in the area.

RENEW North Staffordshire is investing tens of millions of pounds in an area of 67,000 properties which is home to 145,000 people.

This area includes most of Stoke-on-Trent, parts of Newcastle-Under-Lyme and part of Biddulph.

It aims to:

a) build a wider choice of new homes better suited to local needs, for example – to rent or buy

b) make communities safer and better places to live

c) boost the local economy

d) attract more people to the area

RENEW North Staffordshire is a partnership of councils from across the area – Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire Moorlands – and a wide range of other local and regional organisations.

They are working together to deliver a multi-million pound investment programme called housing market renewal.

The programme – just one of nine in England to receive government funding – is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a stronger, more stable housing market for the region.

RENEW North Staffordshire has received £67.4m for years three and four of a long-term programme to revitalise communities affected by declining housing markets.

The £67.4 million is made up of a grants from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now the Department of Communities and Local Government) – expenditure that is matched by funding from the national regeneration agency English Partnership, social housing providers, councils and the Housing Corporation.