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[October 2008]
City Takes a Step Closer to Being the UK's Centre of Creative Ceramics as it Cements European Links
Members of the North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership have joined a European project to boost the ceramics industry in Stoke-on-Trent. The Urban Network for Innovation in Ceramics (UNIC) is one of just a handful of European Union programmes directly overseen by the European Commission.
It means that Stoke-on-Trent will be able to directly link into a wealth of European Union experience and knowledge to boost the ceramic industry across North Staffordshire. Councillor Hazel Lyth, Stoke-on-Trent City Council portfolio holder for enterprise and culture, said: "North Staffordshire is renowned for its pottery industry with more than 130 ceramic businesses in the region. "This project recognises the international importance in the ceramics sector in the area and will help to turn a traditional industry into a thriving economy."
Made up of representatives from 10 European cities, including Stoke-on-Trent, the project aims to help cities affected by the decline of the pottery industry to find new ways of providing a sustainable economy. This month representatives from Stoke-on-Trent City Council met with the other European cities in Hungary to agree the terms of the partnership.
Presentations were made on the situation in each of the cities and how work was being done to combat the decline in manufacturing. The visit also attracted international media interest with reports on Hungarian television and a Spanish national newspaper.
The group will now continue to share best practice to enable cities to anticipate, prevent and address the economic, cultural and social consequences of the changing ceramics sector. In October next year it is planned for representatives of all nine cities in the project to travel to Stoke on Trent to experience first hand the work being done in North Staffordshire.
UNIC is made up of representatives from the cities of Aveiro, Pecs, Delft, Selb, Stoke-on-Trent, Cluj Napoca, Faenza, Castellon and Sevilla. It is headed by the city of Limoges.
ENDS