What’s new: Foundation work has started on 77 new council homes at Booth Street in Stoke, with completion expected in 2028.
By the numbers: The development will provide 57 flats and 20 houses. Stoke-on-Trent City Council currently has 17,025 homes, while more than 3,000 people are on its housing register.
Why it matters: The scheme forms part of the council's efforts to reverse years of declining council housing numbers and bring brownfield sites back into use.
This article is based on reporting from the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), a BBC funded initiative set up to strengthen reporting on local democratic issues. The Staffordshire Signal has taken part in the scheme since September 2026, which means we're able to draw on a selection of LDRS stories alongside our own.
Building work has started on 77 new council homes in Stoke-on-Trent.
The Booth Street development in Stoke will see 57 flats and 20 houses built on brownfield land and added to Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s housing stock.
Developer Morro Partnerships commenced foundation work this week, with the scheme set to be finished in 2028.
Council leaders hope the development and other housebuilding schemes will eventually contribute to a net increase in council homes in Stoke-on-Trent, after many years of decline.
The council currently has 17,025 homes, down from 18,173 eight years ago, as the number of properties sold through Right to Buy has far exceeded new builds and acquisitions.
This has led to families waiting longer for a council house, with more than 3,000 people currently on the authority’s housing register.
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Councillor Finlay Gordon-McCusker, cabinet member for regeneration, accepts that the Booth Street development alone will not solve this problem, but says the council is now moving in the right direction.
He said: “It’s not just Booth Street, there are other schemes such as the Edensor High School development in Longton coming forward, but compared to the number of council houses we’ve lost over the years, it is a drop in the ocean, there’s no getting away from that.
“But you have to start somewhere. We said we would start to build council houses at scale again, and that is what we are doing. These will be the first new council houses built in the Stoke area in 40 years.
“It might not happen in the next couple of years but in years three and four we should start to see a net increase in the number of council houses. The government are changing the rules around Right to Buy that will mean that we will lose fewer homes that way.
“We are crying out for more council houses. We have more than 3,000 people waiting for a home, and there are dozens of families in temporary accommodation.”
The city council has been criticised for proposing to earmark greenfield and Green Belt land for thousands of homes in Stoke-on-Trent’s new local plan.
But Cllr Gordon-McCusker says the Booth Street scheme shows that the authority is taking a ‘brownfield-first’ approach, with other brownfield sites such as Edensor, Pyenest Street in Shelton and the former Olympus Engineering site on College Road also being developed.
He added: “The redevelopment of this former council yard demonstrates how we can transform underused sites, support local families and create opportunities for economic growth. It reinforces our brownfield-first approach to development and forms an important part of our wider regeneration programme for the city.”
The council says that as well as delivering the homes, Morro Partnerships has committed to various environmental and community benefits, including providing 60 hours of volunteering and delivering a green community project.
Tom Broadway, managing director of Morro Partnerships West Midlands, said:
“Starting foundation work at Booth Street is a significant milestone in our partnership with Stoke-on-Trent City Council. This project exemplifies how brownfield regeneration can deliver high-quality, energy-efficient affordable homes while generating genuine social value for the surrounding community. We look forward to seeing it take shape over the coming months.”
Written by Phil Corrigan, Local Democracy Reporter.
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