£50 millon regeneration plans ready

PLANS to relocate an award-winning business as part of a £50 million regeneration scheme will be submitted this week.

Pottery firm Emma Bridgewater will be the cornerstone of the Renew North Staffordshire application for outline planning permission to develop an area off Lichfield Street, Hanley, as part of its City Waterside regeneration project.

Over the weekend, the regeneration company held a public consultation to show what it intends to go on the site. Around 80 people examined artists' impressions and a model of how the development could look.

Experts linked to the project were on hand to answer questions and accept written feedback, which is likely to be included in an appendix of the outline application to be submitted to Stoke-on-Trent City Council on Friday.

Renew's strategic project manger for City Waterside, Sian Griffiths, said: "Turnout has been very pleasing, especially given the weather. We are quite happy with it and the main thing is that there has been no apathy."

The proposed site stretches from the Caldon Canal to Derby Street and will be built around a pedestrian boulevard linking the new Bridgewater Bridge to the edge of Potteries Way and the city centre. There will be 200 new homes, from apartments and town houses to family properties, which will be served by an overhauled road system featuring pedestrian-dominated cul-de-sacs.

Central to the plan is a new factory for pottery firm Emma Bridgewater, which would be the first phase of development.

Once the company has moved, work will begin on transforming its former base into residential and retail units.

Alistair Forbes from Nord Architects, which has designed the outline scheme, said: "Timescale was a big thing and a lot of people were asking when it would be starting. They wanted to see it kicking off straight away."

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, according to the hosts, although some concerns were raised over crossings in Lichfield Street and the potential for rat-runs.

Around 40 people attended a consultation event in the City Waterside Community Centre in Dresden Street on Thursday, with a further 20 dropping in at the Bridgewater factory on Friday and 20 more on Saturday.

Among them was Philip Brough, aged 47, who moved to nearby Rosedawn Close in March.

He said: "We just want to get something done instead of it just being talked about. The demolition and clearance has been going on for a long time. But the plans look brilliant and it is going to be fantastic."

Developers hope to secure outline planning permission by September and start work in spring 2010.

Brian Dale, aged 61, who lives off Hampton Street, said: "It looks good, but I live on the other side of the canal, which will be forgotten for some time."

Find out about how the new Emma Bridgewater development will fit into the scheme.