Council bosses have signed off on a “masterplan” for Hanley to make it the “city centre” of Stoke-on-Trent again.
The planning vision includes a programme of redevelopment on brownfield sites, aiming to provide enough housing for an additional 1,800 people to live in the city centre by 2030.
It would also involve setting up a regeneration body to oversee the project. Paul Williams, the director of Stoke-on-Trent’s Business Improvement District, said this would be crucial to delivering the plans.
“There’s clearly scepticism because of the masterplans before, which have promised so much and delivered so little in the past.”
Williams explained the body, known as an urban development corporation, would have the “sole focus to bring forward what’s set out in the masterplan in the years ahead”.
The latest grand plan for Hanley follows previous regeneration efforts that have not always delivered.
Etruscan Square is a seven-acre brownfield site that has stood empty since it was cleared in 2013.
It was once the site of Hanley’s old bus station, which was demolished to make way for a shopping hub known as “City Sentral”.
It was then earmarked for an arena and hotel, but those plans were scrapped after Labour took control of the city council in 2023.
The site is now included in the masterplan, which would see it transformed into 110 homes.
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