“This is what happens when you fail to take the people with you, when you try to mislead people and when you do not ask people what they want. Does this city really need a Hotel and Casino? Why are the people of the city not asked want they want, what their needs are and what is beneficial for the city as a whole. I live next door to the site and I have to inform the people of this fair city that the consultation for the planning on this site was misleading, evasive and inadequate. For example: the planning notices stated that the proposed Hotel and Casino were to be built on the Forest Park Site, a site which local people know as the Waterloo Road and Century Street site. By cleverly renaming the site most people I have spoken to thought and many still think that the proposed development was to take place further up Waterloo Road towards Burslem where the old Moorcroft factory used to be situated on Forest Park proper. Anyway, has anyone seen the plans for how this hotel will look, they are not widely circulated let me tell you, it is a multi storey grotesque monster blotting out the light for countless families. Can you believe some silly person wanted to build a six storey sky scraper overlooking my back garden where my children will be playing; looking directly into my living room and kitchen so patrons could sit in bed and watch me having my breakfast... its ridiculous and beyond extreme. The dereliction and ill thought through development of this city is the proud legacy of the 1st elected Mayor whose operatives still hog committee after committee the same names appearing again and again, a council that is locked in political deadlock and a populous who have come to learn to disengage. To combat this we have started up a committee of our own called WRAC the ¿Waterloo Road Action Committee¿ made up of local residence, local business people, local representatives, experts and anyone who wants to join in... WRAC will be working for the interests of the social, commercial and health of the Waterloo road corridor, making sure such an ill conceived development can never happen again and that residence views are paramount in future proposed developments. WARC proposes for the Waterloo Road/ Century Street Site, a Green Community Woods that will be a commercial, social and educational space for all the community both rich and poor, where traditional crafts and trades can sit along side retail opportunities in an environmentally friendly sensitive site. This would create far more jobs than the proposed development and be a leading flagship development for the city. We say to investors keep your money in this growing innovative region, we say to the council and decision makers- open the process up to others groups- the ordinary people and a more diverse range of views and we say to the people of Stoke-on-Trent let¿s start to lead instead of being led.”

“This is what happens when you fail to take the people with you, when you try to mislead people and when you do not ask people what they want. Does this city really need a Hotel and Casino? Why are the people of the city not asked want they want, what their needs are and what is beneficial for the city as a whole. I live next door to the site and I have to inform the people of this fair city that the consultation for the planning on this site was misleading, evasive and inadequate. For example: the planning notices stated that the proposed Hotel and Casino were to be built on the Forest Park Site, a site which local people know as the Waterloo Road and Century Street site. By cleverly renaming the site most people I have spoken to thought and many still think that the proposed development was to take place further up Waterloo Road towards Burslem where the old Moorcroft factory used to be situated on Forest Park proper. Anyway, has anyone seen the plans for how this hotel will look, they are not widely circulated let me tell you, it is a multi storey grotesque monster blotting out the light for countless families. Can you believe some silly person wanted to build a six storey sky scraper overlooking my back garden where my children will be playing; looking directly into my living room and kitchen so patrons could sit in bed and watch me having my breakfast... its ridiculous and beyond extreme. The dereliction and ill thought through development of this city is the proud legacy of the 1st elected Mayor whose operatives still hog committee after committee the same names appearing again and again, a council that is locked in political deadlock and a populous who have come to learn to disengage. To combat this we have started up a committee of our own called WRAC the ¿Waterloo Road Action Committee¿ made up of local residence, local business people, local representatives, experts and anyone who wants to join in... WRAC will be working for the interests of the social, commercial and health of the Waterloo road corridor, making sure such an ill conceived development can never happen again and that residence views are paramount in future proposed developments. WARC proposes for the Waterloo Road/ Century Street Site, a Green Community Woods that will be a commercial, social and educational space for all the community both rich and poor, where traditional crafts and trades can sit along side retail opportunities in an environmentally friendly sensitive site. This would create far more jobs than the proposed development and be a leading flagship development for the city. We say to investors keep your money in this growing innovative region, we say to the council and decision makers- open the process up to others groups- the ordinary people and a more diverse range of views and we say to the people of Stoke-on-Trent let¿s start to lead instead of being led.”

“The council must take some reponsibility because they gave planning permission for this dead end project in the first place.
It's the council's fault for having no vision or pride for the city when dishing out these permissions.
They are supposed to protect the city from chancer developers who have no loyalty beyond a balance sheet.
You didn't need a psychic to see that a development of this sort could never have a long term future and the number of jobs provided would be static and minimal.
Stoke-on-Trent already had wall to wall restaurants/kebab shops/betting shops and DIY stores.It also had plenty of empty shops. More it did not need.
Problems with shops closing goes back many, many years before the recent recession because of high rents and supermarket dominance.
As for dreaming of attracting the big manufacturers to fill the gap of potteries/coal/steel, nobody said that.
You don't need to attract big manufacturers, just the right ones that can grow will do. Spode/Minton/Doulton/Wedgwood didn't start off big.
They grew with talent, investment and a want for the product.
But they are gone now and what needs to be done is to encourage the industries of the future. This need not cost a shed load of money.
The jobs and future of Stoke can be in any sector you want.
But unless Stoke wants to become Las Vegas then a casino/hotel/restaurants are not going to be the start of anything to be proud of.
When I have met visitors to Stoke they want to see it's history/Spode/Wegwood/ Gladstone not yet another shopping centre.”

“once again we been shafted”

“Do we really need ANOTHER cinema, ANOTHER B&Q, ANOTHER hotel and ANOTHER casino in Hanley????? Why not spend the money on something we haven't already got!!!!”

“The regeneration of the City is a bit like mating elephants. It's a lot of noise followed by months of waiting for something to happen.
Only in the case of the City the gestation period looks like running into decades.”

“Ian, glad you have made that point. How can it be the Council's fault? It is the developer Lear Management that has not been repaying the interest on the loan for the project. That is why the bank has taken over the plot. Hope this gets sorted as soon as possible, as this project would have created much needed jobs.”

“This regeneration seems to be take a long time to get up and running, any other city would have been up and running with it by now. The very nature of regeneration sould be fast, knock down, bild, done, not round hear its not. It knock down,have a look, a cup of tea and an oatcake, a think, draw a pictour of what you want to do, show it to the local paper, run out of money and leave the site in a right mess. We like to thigs a bit diffrent round hear.”

“I understand that local - and central - government make very easy targets when things go wrong, but exactly why is SOT council to blame for the collapse of a private sector developer?
Should the council have employed psychics to ask Lear's directors if they might default on their repayments 18 months down the line?
As for the dreamer who wants money wasted trying to attract major manufacturers. Which sector would these firms be operating in?”

“It ain't happening, period. Thanks to our elected leaders ONCE AGAIN missing the boat by not acting decisively when the economy was booming, it's best to expect nothing for another generation at least. Btw, agree with others. The area hasn't looked as big a dump as now for years! Plain embarrassing... and yes, I'm also planning to move soon.”