About Us

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council is a local authority that geographically dominates the north of Staffordshire, covering an area of 222 square miles or about a fifth of the county (the second biggest district in Staffordshire after Stafford Borough). Over 31% of the district is rural.

It serves 95,800 residents (2021 Census) living in the towns of Leek, Cheadle and Biddulph and the surrounding villages that fall within 39 parishes.

The area is home to Alton Towers Resort, the UK's biggest theme park. Other attractions include the National Trust's Biddulph Grange Garden, the former textile town of Leek (known as the `Queen of the Moorlands`) with its links to the arts and crafts movement, and Cheadle, home to St Giles' Catholic Church known as Pugin's Gem, a masterpiece of Gothic Revival church architecture.

The north eastern part of the district is in the Peak District National Park. Flash is the highest village in the UK, close to The Roaches gritstone escarpment, while nearby Cheeks Hill is the highest point in Staffordshire at 520m above sea level.

The Council came into being on 1 April 1974, replacing four districts.

The Council provides a wide range of services with the key ones being the economy and regeneration, planning and building control, waste collection and recycling, environmental health, electoral administration, leisure services, parks and grounds, supporting homeless people, car parks, housing benefit and council tax reduction, and collection of council tax and business rates.

The Council has 56 elected councillors representing 27 wards. Find out here about the political composition of the Council and its Senior Management Structure

The Council is comprised of Councillors and Officers. The Councillors are democratically elected representatives responsible for setting the policy direction and budgets of the Council. Officers support the work of the Councillors. The Council receives its funding through the following primary sources: council tax, business rates, fees and charges, and specific grant funding.

Please click here to view the Corporate Plan 2023-27.

• Since 2008, Staffordshire Moorlands District and High Peak Borough Council in Derbyshire have worked together in a formal Alliance, sharing a senior management team with the majority of staff working for both councils, or for Alliance companies` Alliance Leisure (leisure centres), Alliance Norse (housing repairs and maintenance, caretaking and cleaning) and Alliance Environmental Services (waste and recycling collection, street cleansing, and parks and grounds).