Protesters to hand petition to councillors
CAMPAIGNERS attempting to block controversial council plans to relocate to a new £40 million headquarters in Hanley were due to address councillors today.
Representatives from the Save our Stoke group will present their petition to the city council's 44 members at a full council meeting tonight.
They are fighting the authority's plans to sell off buildings in Stoke and move 1,300 workers to a new headquarters in the Central Business District (CBD).
Campaign co-ordinator Graham Barrett, aged 61, of Honeywall, said: "We got more than 700 signatures in a matter of weeks from 12 retailers in Stoke.
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"If we had gone wider we feel we would have got a significant amount more, but we thought this was enough to show what people are feeling in general about these plans.
"We are going to put forward the group's view and ask them to consider an alternative proposal."
Mr Barrett added that traders feel the authority is 'sacrificing Stoke for the sake of putting more people in Hanley's shops'.
Town centre traders and residents in Stoke fear the exodus of council staff will put them out of business, but the authority insists it will be able to sell the Civic Centre, King's Hall and Spode to a major developer in order to plug the gap left behind.
Regeneration leaders believe the CBD is vital for Hanley's regeneration and say it will create thousands of jobs when it expands to include four premium office blocks, two hotels and a series of shops and cafes.
Tristram Hunt MP has called on the authority to reveal its plans for Stoke.
Comments
by stokemaveric
Thursday, September 06 2012, 7:59PM
“well done for trying with the petition but does anyone really think that the councillors will listen to the people??..they have got to borrow millions of pounds to move the offices back to hanley..and it will be the hard working people of stoke on trent who will foot the bill when council tax bills are increased AGAIN..this council will bring this once great city to its knees..shame on them...”
by I_Norris
Thursday, September 06 2012, 6:55PM
“Disgusting Laboour councillors voted against the petition being discussed by scrutiny committe,
So much for transparent council.”
by johnboy2011
Thursday, September 06 2012, 5:47PM
“Swan house in Stoke, and the councils one stop buildings are not that old, why on earth are they wasteing £40m of taxpayers money on new buildings in Hanley, when they say they can't afford to cut the grass in our cemetries.”
by rubythursday
Thursday, September 06 2012, 2:24PM
“totally agree and well said Dizzy 1960 everything is in place for stoke to be the cbd
sadly, common sense seldom prevails”
by Dizzy1960
Thursday, September 06 2012, 11:16AM
“I think this say's it all; "Regeneration leaders believe the CBD is vital for Hanley's regeneration".
Hanley's Regeneration is what it's all about and in the process they are taking everything away from Stoke-upon-Trent and completely isolating us from the rest of the city. The A500 has already done that in some sense, but to relocate the power base to Hanley will destroy the place that gave this city it's identity.
I've stated in other articles that locating the CBD in Hanley will result in failure because of it's lack of accessibility and the congestion it will cause users within the city visiting Hanley. This proposal demonstrates that either our council haven't got a clue or are controlled by outside influences? But I do suspect it's both.
Relocating the CBD on land earmarked for development in Stoke behind the railway station would not only benefit the city and town, but also, greatly benefit the CBD because of accessibility.
Let's hope the traders of Stoke are successful. Because it certainly needs someone fighting for its cause.
Tristram Hunt MP has called on the authority to reveal its plans for Stoke. The simple answer to that is; HOUSING and nothing but HOUSING, which is demonstrated in the Stoke Master-plan presented by Urbed.
Apark@Stoke4LUZ
honi soit qui mal y pense
And being an historian Tristram, "You should know what I mean by that"!”