Planning a bright future
S TOKE-ON-TRENT does, perhaps unfairly, have a reputation for refusing to let go of the past and embrace the future. Some still do hanker for a return to the days when the city's landscape was dominated by pot banks, steel works and coal mines. And a reluctance to accept change has held the city back in the past but not anymore it would appear. The eye-catching bus station in Hanley is nearing completion. And the University Quarter, in Stoke, can't help but impress visitors arriving by train. And now we have the artist's impressions of the city council's new offices as part of the Central Business District, in Hanley. It is a striking modern building, inspired by one of the city's greatest potters. The easy option would have been for a run-of-the-mill structure to house the city council's 1,300 workers who are moving from the current civic centre in Stoke.
B ut in truth that was never really an option. To say the £40 million relocation proposal is controversial is nothing if not an understatement. Families in Stoke have been left fearing the worst by the proposal while taxpayers in the rest of the city simply can't understand why the authority is spending £40 million on the move in such austere times. So the city council had no option but to be bold and brave with its designs for the new building. Undoubtedly some people may think it's odd or weird and just won't like it. But to achieve its main aim the council had to make a statement and be iconic. Its reason for returning to Hanley is to anchor the new Central Business District. The thinking is that once the authority is in, others will follow to help transform that part of the city centre. It's a gamble that has to pay off for any number of reasons but what's planned at least gives it a fighting chance of succeeding.
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Comments
by Notanumber
Monday, November 05 2012, 12:48PM
“... The easy option would have been for a run-of-the-mill structure to house the city council's 1,300 workers ...
Sort of like the Civic Offices in Stoke then?”
by GilbertL
Thursday, November 01 2012, 4:22PM
“Well said BucknallMel.”
by BucknallMel
Thursday, November 01 2012, 1:54PM
“You know, there are laws which state that advertising material should be marked clearly as such, and this isn't, even though this offensive and patronising tosh is clearly written by some PR agent for Stoke council. Probably FredBear. Hankering for pot banks and pit heads, are we? I grew up when Stoke's air was so black your washing came in from the back yard dirtier than it went into the dolly tub, mate, and none of us yearn for that. We just hate this ugly, overpriced rubbish foisted on us in the name of modernity and claimed to be the source of infinite jobs and prosperity. Seen it all before, back in the 70s, and the flagship of that regeneration was Hanley bus station, Unity House and East Precinct. Then Festival Park was going to save us all, then the Potteries Centre, then the super-duper shiny new Civic Centre, and the amazing magic trick 'where'd all the money go?' Worldgate and Cultural Quarter fiascos. It adds insult to injury to sneer at us because we are NOT dim enough to fall to our knees in worship of your schemes.”