Federation of Stoke-on-Trent

The federation of Stoke-on-Trent was the 1910 amalgamation of the six Potteries towns of Burslem, Tunstall, Stoke-upon-Trent, Hanley, Fenton and Longton into the single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. An anomaly in the history of English local government, this was the first union of its type and the only such event to take place until the 1960s. The 1910 federation was the culmination of a process of urban growth and municipal change that started in the early 19th century.

Little interaction between the separate settlements occurred until the 18th century when the pottery industry began to expand rapidly. By the early 19th century, initial steps had been made to ensure greater co-operation between the Potteries towns over the issue of law and order. The county plan of 1888 made the first attempts to form the six towns into one county borough, following an act of Parliament that restructured the county system and created the administrative county of Staffordshire. Wishing to remain independent, the Potteries towns discussed uniting to form a separate county, the Staffordshire Potteries. When it became apparent that such a move would fail, the proposal was revised to one of uniting the six towns into one county borough. This plan failed after Hanley Corporation and Stoke Corporation could not agree on the location of the future administrative centre. Instead, only Hanley gained county borough status because the other towns did not meet the criteria for such designation.

The first federation attempt was made in 1900 with a resurrection of the county plan. In 1902, Hanley Council led attempts to form an expanded county borough, but disagreement over the complex financial issues of rates, assets and loans caused Fenton to pull out, quickly followed by Burslem and Stoke, and the proposal was abandoned in 1903. The second and final federation process, between 1905 and 1910, was instigated by Longton Town Council with support from Stoke and Hanley and opposition from Fenton, Tunstall and Burslem. Issues again arose over the financial settlement and discussions continued during the progress of the Federation Bill through Parliament. The bill was passed in the House of Commons and was still under debate in the House of Lords when the six towns announced that they had come to an agreement. Passed in December 1908, the act came into force on 31 March 1910. The new Stoke-on-Trent was a county borough from then until 1974. In addition, city status was granted to Stoke-on-Trent by King George V on 1 July 1925.

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