Clearance work comes at a high cost to many

TALK of speeding up the city's regeneration process has come too late for one family business.

Hi-Peak Leisure, an established name on Hanley's Clough Street, collapsed into liquidation in April because shoppers thought it had already been demolished along with swathes of nearby land.

Company secretary Jane Prince, whose father David Caswell founded the firm in 1987, said years of delays over plans to build a new Tesco and extend the Potteries Way, after much of the area had already been turned into a "bomb site", drove away trade.

The council is still awaiting the outcome of a second public inquiry after an objection over plans to compulsorily purchase 14 remaining pockets of land.

Mrs Prince said: "My business could have been saved if the process had gone through quicker.

"The liquidator said a company this well established would be expected to survive the recession, but the added burden of the regeneration work was the fatal blow.

"There should have been some urgency about it after buildings were demolished, leaving businesses trading on a building site.

"It was four years ago when they started pulling businesses down and there should have been some sort of deadline in place then for this all to be finished.

"The council should have managed it properly.

"However, if they put some speed on now at least they might be able to save some other businesses that are struggling."

Homeowner Kevan Shaw took the council to a public inquiry over its plans to demolish properties in the Slater Street area of Middleport.

He eventually accepted the council's offer to buy his home and moved to a new house in Trentham in June, after a seven-year battle.

But Mr Shaw, who lived in Dimsdale Street for 40 years, says the process could be speeded up if the council was to offer people a fair price for their homes straight away.

The 64-year-old said: "It's alright the council saying lets move it forward quicker, they could solve the problem by giving people a fair price for their homes.

"They can't move until they have found somewhere else to live, or given enough money to enable them to get a home of the same value elsewhere.

"I didn't want to move, but it became obvious I was fighting a losing battle. It was my home for a long time, the council is not just taking a house, but a lot of memories from you."

For Ellie Colclough, aged 62, the process moved a lot quicker. Plans for clearance areas in Fegg Hayes were announced in August and by April she had accepted an offer for her home and moved out.

Ellie, who lived on Oxford Road for 42 years, said: "It was a relief once the announcement was made and we could get on with it. I was glad it moved quickly, I feel sorry for people left in areas with houses being demolished all around them."