Mike Wolfe: Fantastic visions obscure grim reality of city plans

“Those buildings would look outdated before they were finished being built.
This move clearly has intentions to which we are being kept from seeing, someones pockets are going to be filled.”

“@ Fredbear

"Only in Stoke do we get a picture of some pretty standard, 4 storey block buildings surrounding a square with nothing in it;

and we then call it complete fantasy!"

No we call it Walsall, or any other centre, not York or Chester, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Derby, with the same old , same old retail outlets, nothing unique, nothing original, give me a fiver and I`ll produce as good a plan as any clapped out, nihilistic, over paid designer in this country can come up with. The lot produce UNIFORM DRIVEL, it's like patting a baby on the back over your shoulder, you know it's going to be sick down your back, so why do it??? And Pervez is that sop, the City Council sit there and watch with expectant Joy as it happens, they already know the jokes on him.

Why do we know that it's probably going to be oooooh lets see "St Modwens that gets the contract. You get to a point with these morons where your brain is in the implode mode, if you want to heat this City as in the crazy plan capture the heat generated by the exasperated citizens of Stoke. You can't even think about the management structure and their antics without a sick bag to hand, and then on top of all this Wolfe and his bizarre take on life and politics utters the above visions.

Since the late seventies this city has spiralled out of control into the abyss, maybe it's time that each of the six towns declared independence rescinded 1910 and all that, dropped out of Unitary status, that is one word that "CANNOT" in any way describe this City and its Council "A UNITARY AUTHORITY", when I think of that one even the best jokes told by all the comedians in the land nay Europe can`t tell you a funnier one liner better than Stoke is a "UNITARY AUTHORITY".
As to what to do? Well if it were a club or a company you could call an EAGM, wouldn't mind a mass sacking, and an election, that may achieve, there's no food we can feed the councillors to generate brains, the honest truth is SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE.........................And done before the current regime and current management structure destroy everything.”

“It's easy to agree with people but I think that Gilbert sums it up nicely. Stoke-on-Trent is probably unlike any other city in the world so it begs the question, why should it be regenerated using the methods employed for a traditional radial city? And why such an emphasis on retail with two relative colossuses on the doorstep and internet shopping continuing to rise at the expense of the high street? Despair was mentioned - too right. The only way out I can see is the establishment of a Town and Villages political party, with a local agenda, to fight New (or one nation) Labour at the next elections with a manifesto focusing on regenerating Stoke-on-Trent in a holistic sense. This could include spending across the whole of the Potteries to beautify the place, attract investment and generally make life worth living, and encouraging areas to set up their own town councils to increase civic pride and political awareness to ensure this complacent bunch don't get in again. That really might sound fanciful but I really can't see any other way.”

“I am suffering from "promise fatigue". As a native of the City( although I live in Leek) I have witnessed over the recent years so many half baked and vacuous promises that in the end a weariness has crept in. Over the years we have had the Renew fiasco- I drove down Botteslow St the other day and saw the grassy wastes and debris landscape common throughout the city. We have had 6 SRBs since the 90s that have made no impact on the city save bathing Stoke Town Hall in luminous light, we have had the Hanley Green corridor again a failure, the " pioneer" deal with E-on which crashed,Hanley Bus Station late and designed to accommodate fewer buses.... Middleport....Victoria ground....the beano's in Cannes " to meet people from Manchester" according to Meredith. Even the Hanley centre plan is essentially re playing debates had in the 70s. To quote Terry Thomas " a shower, an absolute shower"”

“I am suffering from "promise fatigue". As a native of the City( although I live in Leek) I have witnessed over the recent years so many half baked and vacuous promises that in the end a weariness has crept in. Over the years we have had the Renew fiasco- I drove down Botteslow St the other day and saw the grassy wastes and debris landscape common throughout the city. We have had 6 SRBs since the 90s that have made no impact on the city save bathing Stoke Town Hall in luminous light, we have had the Hanley Green corridor again a failure, the " pioneer" deal with E-on which crashed,Hanley Bus Station late and designed to accommodate fewer buses.... Middleport....Victoria ground....the beano's in Cannes " to meet people from Manchester" according to Meredith. Even the Hanley centre plan is essentially re playing debates had in the 70s. To quote Terry Thomas " a shower, an absolute shower"”

“RegenMan1, in answer to your questions: I'm suggesting that the council don't have a full grasp of what the regeneration will cost nor how long it will take for it to be a success. I feel they are missing a trick. They are determined to throw all the money at Hanley, yet there are 6 towns which make up this city. The other 5 towns have been left to go to wrack and ruin, yet £60million of borrowed money could be plenty of money to turn each town into a commercial, retail and residential success. But no, the council see the benefit of directing all borrowed monies at the one town that has difficult access and already a falling commercial and retail situation. The city of Stoke-on-Trent has to compete with other easily accessible cities such as Manchester and Birmingham, and the high-end retailers such as Waitrose, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols will never come here because Stoke-on-Trent is not on the same page as Manchester or Birmingham. I would prefer the council to spend money in all 6 towns and not just Hanley. I cannot see the attractiveness of Hanley, I never shop there unless I have to, and I even lived there for a year whilst at university. Regarding people who leave at the first opportunity, I have no figures and I have not researched this matter, yet comments appear on here and elsewhere on the internet from ex-pats who all have their reasons for leaving. My reason for leaving this city is because the council are hell bent on spending borrowed money on things we already have that are not broken, yet are happy to make cuts to services that people desperately need. That doesn't sit well with me at all. Maybe I am lucky as you call it, I can, if I want to (and do want to) move away from Stoke-on-Trent. I've lived here all my life, yet I'm never been in so much despair about the city as I am now. The pits and pots are long gone, and the council are happy to abandon the heritage which led to the city status, in favour of pursuing a project that isn't enticing the "big guns". I sincerely hope the whole thing is a success and I am proved wrong, however, I am a realist and with the latest political debacle about the West Coast Mainline franchise, I can't help being doubtful about success. I can't wait to see what the world class public services will be, or maybe I'm just cynical.”

“I'll never understand why Stoke and Staffordshire formed an LEP. The Potteries to the north is a distinct city region in its own right, while toward the south of the county you're pretty much in the Black Country.

Why couldn't they make an LEP made up of North Staffordshire and South/East Cheshire? These areas have a lot more in common.”

“that figure doing a cartwheel in the middle of the square is john van der earnalott after learning that he and his fellow council executives have just had another massive ''pay'' rise...”

“Only in Stoke do we get a picture of some pretty standard, 4 storey block buildings surrounding a square with nothing in it;

and we then call it complete fantasy!”

“RegenMan1, I wrote a lengthy reply to your comment, but the site crashed whilst trying to submit it. If I get a moment, I will try to reply to your comments this evening.”