A council has missed out on £11.3 million of government funding for an historic pottery site.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council applied for £10 million from the Arts Council's Creative Foundations Fund for the disused China Halls on the Spode site in Stoke.

The authority, in partnership with the British Ceramics Biennial, also bid for £1.3 million for Building 3 on the Spode site. But neither of the funding applications was successful.

The government launched the £85 million Creative Foundations Fund (CFF) in 2025 to help arts venues across England carry out vital building repairs and upgrades.

The city council has previously secured £10 million of Levelling Up cash for the Spode site, and there are plans to bring vacant parts of the former potbank back into use as commercial space and more than 100 new homes.

But this funding is not considered sufficient to bring the China Halls back into economic use.

According to a council report from last summer, 'a cocktail of public monies will be required in order to address the scale of investment required'.

The report states: "It has been a longstanding ambition of the city council to bring the China Halls on the Spode site back into economic use.

"The only means by which this can be achieved is by securing external monies that can be used to restore the property.

"With activity 'gearing up' on the Spode site, following the production of a site-wide masterplan and the appointment of Capital&Centric as the city council's development partner, now is the time to try to secure the necessary funds to also address the China Halls."

The British Ceramics Biennial is in the process of securing a lease for Building 3, and wanted the CFF funding to refurbish the building.

Following the failure of both of the Spode site bids to the CFF, the city council is exploring other funding options for the China Halls and Building 3.