Stoke-on-Trent City Council has approved a masterplan aimed at restoring Hanley to the status of the city centre. The planning vision includes a programme of redevelopment on brownfield sites, with a target of providing housing for an additional 1,800 people by 2030.
The council will establish a regeneration body known as an urban development corporation to oversee delivery of the plans. Paul Williams, director of Stoke-on-Trent's Business Improvement District, said the body would have the "sole focus to bring forward what's set out in the masterplan in the years ahead".
Williams acknowledged previous attempts at regeneration had prompted scepticism. "There's clearly scepticism because of the masterplans before, which have promised so much and delivered so little in the past," he said.
Etruscan Square to be transformed into homes
The masterplan includes proposals for Etruscan Square, a seven-acre brownfield site that has stood empty since 2013. The site was cleared after demolition of Hanley's old bus station, which was intended to make way for a shopping hub called "City Sentral". Plans were later made for an arena and hotel at the location, but these were scrapped after Labour took control of the city council in 2023.
Under the new masterplan, Etruscan Square would be transformed into 110 homes. Councillor Finlay Gordon-McCusker, Labour cabinet member for regeneration, said the scheme differed from previous proposals because it was "fully funded in terms of Etruscan Square Phase 1".
Gordon-McCusker said people had been promised development at the site before without funding behind the proposals. "These things never had a penny behind them," he said. He indicated visible changes on site would occur within the next 12 months.
Previous administration criticism
Reform councillor Daniel Jellyman, who held the regeneration role under the previous administration, accused Labour of being "asleep at the wheel" over the site's failure to develop. Jellyman argued the current administration had inherited £56m in government funding and planning permission but chosen to do "nothing" with it.
Community reaction
Shoppers in Hanley expressed support for development of empty buildings and brownfield sites, though several also raised concerns about the "drug problem" in the centre. Retired councillor Elaine Blake said Hanley was in need of a "facelift", describing the centre as looking like it was "in retirement, without any funds, without a pension".