READERS of The Sentinel are being invited to choose a design for a major art project at a key regeneration site.

Housing regeneration agency Renew North Staffordshire has teamed up with a digital art company to design a massive decorative hoarding.

The 500-metre-long Living Gallery display will run along the fences being put up in Bucknall New Road, in Hanley, for the next five years to help conceal demolition and building work which will be taking place in the area and keep the site secure.

See the Living Gallery designs

Renew is knocking down dozens of properties in the street which are no longer fit for habitation and replacing them with brand new homes.

But the agency is keen to minimise disruption to residents while the regeneration work is going on.

Renew has therefore commissioned mobile digital arts firm Glassball to come up with an eye-catching design for a massive screen along the street.

The eight-feet-high hoarding will run from the corner of Ivy House Road to the junction with Wellington Road and is likely to be the biggest continuous public art project in the UK.

It is not yet known how much the art initiative will cost.

Artist Cora Glasser, who is working on the hoarding with colleague David Ball, said that they have come up with a choice of three alternative ideas for the project, but the final decision will be left to The Sentinel's readers.

She said: "I've been involved in the Living Gallery project since 2007, when we did the paintings in the doorways and windows of empty properties.

"From that, we got the contract to deliver the project in Bucknall New Road, which we hope will make the environment a bit brighter while the demolition work is going on.

"It is a mammoth task, but it's an extremely exciting one.

"As an artist, you don't often get a blank canvas this big to work on.

"It's a fantastic opportunity to produce an artwork that is rooted in the community, but which will also receive national attention due to the sheer scale of the project."

Glassball recently held a number of workshops in the area to collect photographs and ideas from residents about what they want to see on the hoarding.

Resident John Hickson, who lives in nearby Mulberry Street, said people are concerned about the demolition work.

The 75-year-old said: "It is a shame people have had to leave their homes, but when the regeneration work is finished the area should look better."

City Waterside neighbourhood officer Lee Carroll has lived in the area for more than 30 years, and said the Living Gallery project has captured residents' imagination.

The 48-year-old said: "There has been a lot of interest in this and some of the residents have been heavily involved.

"It seems to be very innovative, and I think it's really good that people from all over the city will get to have a say in the design which goes on it."

Renew programme manager Nick Newman said: "The hoarding designs have been created to reflect the sense of community in the area and we want local people to come forward and tell us which design they like the best.

"We are consulting with residents and want local people's views reflected in how their community is regenerated."