West Midlands
Stoke-on-Trent, north of the conurbation
Stoke-on-Trent is in the West Midlands for Ofsted’s regional table, and it is not a suburb of Birmingham. The planning authority for the city is Stoke-on-Trent City Council. Staffordshire County Council is a different body, and it is the children’s services authority for the county outside the city.
That split matters. A placing conversation with the county and a planning application to the city are not the same meeting. We keep them apart in the advice.
Fiveways is based in Birmingham. This page is about the work in Stoke-on-Trent, not a local branch.
Planning applications in this area are decided by Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
- The useful local question is which council is being asked for what: the city for planning, Ofsted for a children’s home registration, CQC if personal care is being provided in supported living.
- We do not claim a volume of Stoke-on-Trent homes. Ofsted’s published count for the whole West Midlands was 630 children’s homes at 31 March 2025.
- Travel from Birmingham is straightforward. It is still an arranged visit, not a local branch.
The work that usually belongs here
Questions that come up here
Is a home in Newcastle-under-Lyme the same as Stoke?
No. Newcastle-under-Lyme is a different local planning authority. Tell us the postcode before anyone drafts a planning note.
Can you prepare the Ofsted application from the paperwork alone?
We can start on the papers. A children’s home application that has never been walked around the building is usually missing the thing Ofsted will ask about first: how the premises fit the children.
Nearby, and not the same
- Wolverhampton — The Black Country is not one planning authority.
- Derby — City council and county council are not synonyms.
- West Midlands