MULTI-MILLION pound plans to build homes and play areas to regenerate a Stoke-on-Trent district should kick into action next year.

Work has now started on producing a detailed masterplan for the City Waterside East area, on the edge of Hanley, and families will see the final blueprint by Christmas.

It will include demolishing streets of houses, refurbishing others, and creating hundreds of new homes to attract more people to live near the city centre.

Since the original clearance plans – around Botteslow Street and between Waterloo Street and Commercial Road – were announced, many residents have moved on and remaining families have been blighted by urban decay, crime and vandalism.

But now the team co-ordinating the regeneration efforts says it hopes to quicken the pace of development in 2010 to persuade recession-hit construction firms to get building again.

The proposals will cover the area spanning Bucknall New Road, Ivy House Lane and Botteslow Street. It is part of the wider City Waterside, which will eventually have 2,500 homes, including canalside apartments and modern family houses.

More than £177 million of private and public sector money will be invested altogether.

Mike Gilbert, development manager for housing renewal partnership, Renew North Staffordshire, said: "The frustration is things aren't moving very quickly. But we are in conversation with all developers and landowners.

"We are looking at work starting next year."

He said it could ultimately take another 12 years before the whole of City Waterside has been completed.

On Saturday, residents were invited to the City Waterside Community Centre, in Dresden Street, to find out more about the process.

Delyse Bailey, an associate with Taylor Young, the consultancy firm creating the plan, said: "Our job is to talk to people to see what they want."

The exhibition included examples of different styles of homes and different types of parking areas and open spaces.

Tracey Carr, aged 24, from Ludlow Street, Hanley, said: "Our home is staying up, but the housing opposite is coming down. We've got two children and would really like more play areas."

Irene Barnes, from Old Wharf Place, Joiner's Square, is concerned about the way the regeneration area has been drawn up. The 64-year-old said: "It is dividing Joiner's Square in half. I'm not happy about it."

Tim Rourke, chairman of Hanley South Residents' Action Group, said: "We have got to build the community from the ground up. It's a long process."