The Royal Stoke, Dougie Mac and students of all ages are among those who have benefited over the years

The Coates family fortune may have fallen by £1.3 billion over the last year – but it didn’t stop the bet365 bosses from donating more than £120 million to charity. Staffordshire business tycoon Lord Bamford and his family have overtaken the Stoke City owners to be named the richest people in the Midlands, according to the 2024 edition of The Sunday Times Rich List, published today.

Denise, John and Peter Coates are now the second wealthiest people in the region after their combined wealth dropped to just over £7.4 billion overall. This has resulted in the Coates family slipping four places to 20th on the overall UK list.

However, the latest rich list also reveals how the family have donated £120.4m to health and welfare, education and arts charities. This ranks them as 23rd in the overall UK ‘giving list’ having donated 1.6 per cent of their wealth.

Here, Stoke-on-Trent Live looks at how the family – largely via the Denise Coates Foundation set up in 2012 – is leaving a lasting legacy in North Staffordshire by providing donations and funding to local charities and organisations:

Work started earlier this year on a £4 million project to improve the facilities for cancer patients at the Royal Stoke. The revamp – made possible by a £3.6 million donation from the Denise Coates Foundation – will see a number of improvements made to the cancer centre.

They include a new entrance, pharmacy, multipurpose group room, two private rooms, an information centre, refreshment area and new waiting area for patients. Work is expected to be completed by December this year.

The centre, which opened back in 2009, provides a purpose built facility for the delivery of treatment and care for oncology, haematology, immunology and allergy patients in the form of stem cell transplants, systemic anticancer treatments (SACT) and radiotherapy.

The unit provides inpatient, outpatient and day case facilities, with dedicated pharmacy support for the dispensing of chemotherapy, immunotherapy and supportive therapy drugs. The clinical teams provide cancer care to 700,000 people and diagnose approximately 2,400 new cases of cancer each year.

Thanks to £3 million from the Denise Coates Foundation, Newcastle-under-Lyme School was able to pay for a new sports hall. The facility opened its doors in September 2022.

It incorporates multiple courts for netball, tennis and other sports. The facility also includes a fully fitted out strength and conditioning suite, providing teams with further training to support their participation.

The complex is home to a Superleague Netball Experience Hub as a result of a partnership with Loughborough Lightning. “The hub aims to be the home to North Staffordshire’s top aspiring netballers and seeks to provide girls with the performance environment in which to meet their potential,” the school states.

Read more here.

Douglas Macmillan Hospice refurb

Families were able to benefit from a £950,000 refurbishment of the in-patient unit at a city hospice – thanks to the work being entirely funded through a donation from the Denise Coates Foundation.

The 1970s-built facility at Douglas Macmillan Hospice as be kitted out with new social areas, wet rooms, en suite bathrooms and kitchenettes. Speaking back in 2019, Ms Coates said: “The hospice provides a vital service to the people in the region with a life-limiting illness.

“It is extremely important that those receiving end-of-life care are afforded the highest standards of comfort and dignity. This investment will deliver an environment that will enable Dougie Mac to provide the level of support that will do just that.”

Read more here.

£20m to help Stokie entrepreneurs

The Peter Coates Foundation teamed up with university bosses back in 2022 to launch a new £20m programme aimed at bringing new jobs and wealth creation to North Staffordshire. The Peter Coates Fast Forward Programme offered emerging entrepreneurs the skills, funding and support they need to start new high-tech businesses in Stoke-on-Trent.

They would study for a year to achieve the newly created Peter Coates MSc in Entrepreneurship at Staffordshire University. At the culmination of each one-year course, up to 30 teams of graduates can each pitch for up to £200,000 of venture capital investment and ongoing mentoring support to start their own businesses.

Read more here.

Royal Stoke surgical robot

Back in 2022, a new £2 million surgical robot was unveiled. The Royal Stoke’s state-of-the-art Intuitive da Vinci Xi robot replaced an older model which was brought into service in 2015

The robot’s dual console system supports the training of surgeons at the Royal Stoke and across the West Midlands in advanced surgical techniques. It had been funded by the UHNM Charity as part of a major upgrade of the trust’s cancer service, being delivered thanks to a £8.4 million grant from the Denise Coates Foundation.