City of Stoke-on-Trent

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Region: West Midlands
Country: England

§ This page provides an overview of an officially designated city in the UK, bringing together various information to help you better understand this city.

Stoke-on-Trent—federated from six pottery towns in 1910—was elevated to city status on 5 June 1925 and granted a Lord Mayoralty in 1928. It was a county borough until 1974, then regained single-tier powers as a unitary authority in 1997. Since late 2024 the government has been progressing proposals for local-government reorganisation and devolution across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, with councils developing options during 2025 for potential future structural change.

City Council Status

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is a unitary authority (since 1997) covering the federated 'Six Towns'; city status was conferred in 1925.

Civic Honours: Lord Mayors & Lord Provost

Stoke on Trent was granted a Lord Mayoralty on 10 July 1928 (reconfirmed in 1974).

In the UK, city status and the dignity of Lord Mayor (or Lord Provost in Scotland) are separate honours, each granted by the monarch via letters patent. Of the 76 cities, 28 have a Lord Mayoralty and 4—Scotland’s four cities—have a Lord Provost; these titles don’t automatically follow from city status. A Lord Mayoralty exists in 24 cities in England, 2 in Wales, and 2 in Northern Ireland.

Only 24 cities in England have Lord Mayors: Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Canterbury, Chester, Coventry, Exeter, Kingston-upon-Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, the City of London, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, the City of Westminster, and York.

In the UK, a city is not defined by size or population but by formal status granted by the monarch, often through historical charters or, more recently, civic honours competitions. There are 76 officially recognised cities, some of which are relatively small compared to other urban areas. In contrast, local authority districts (361 in total) are administrative areas created for local government purposes and may include a mix of urban centres, suburbs, and rural communities. Within districts, there may be one or more towns, which generally refer to sizeable urban settlements but do not hold city status unless it has been formally granted. In practice, a city can exist within a district, and a district can cover multiple towns, showing the clear distinction between legal status, administrative boundaries, and everyday usage.

Cities in West Midlands