Article submitted by Karen Bradley – Member of Parliament for the Staffordshire Moorlands:
I never tire of saying how lucky we are to live in the beautiful Staffordshire Moorlands and I am therefore pleased to support the We Are Staffordshire and the Staffordshire Story initiatives where business, education and public sector organisations have joined together to encourage more visitors and businesses to this very special part of the UK.
We all have such great pride in the Moorlands and in our County with amazing areas to visit such as the Peak District National Park, the Churnet Valley, Rudyard Lake – just to mention a few of the many fantastic places and attractions.
I was therefore pleased to be joined by fellow Staffordshire MP Michael Fabricant and John Henderson, the Chief Executive of Staffordshire County Council for a visit to Getliffe’s Yard in Leek and then onto Meerbrook to discuss the Staffordshire Story initiative.
The two initiatives are designed to showcase the best that the County has to offer for anyone looking to live, work or visit Staffordshire. We are lucky to be located in the centre of the country, with some of the best travel links anywhere. But perhaps because of how easy the County is to reach; we don’t attract the number of overnight stays that might be expected given how much there is to do and see here. Of course we welcome day trippers – some who come to enjoy the fantastic countryside, others who visit our brilliant attractions – but people who stay overnight on average will spend more money locally and reduce the volume of traffic on our roads.
Creating and selling a story about Staffordshire is an important part of attracting people to visit and invest here to create jobs and bring prosperity to more of the County. I am delighted that the Moorlands is such an important part of that work.
