Emergency services were called out on Thursday night to a fire on Festival Park, Etruria. The fire started next to what is going to be the new Lidl on Cobridge Road at the now closed Taylormade Casting site. 

When work started at the new Lidl site in March, a fence was erected around the perimeter to stop people gaining access to the site. Previously residents have described how people were breaking into the sites and causing trouble. 

Despite the rubbish being cleared from outside the defunct Taylormade Casting site and work being made on the site, residents have said that no work has been done on the site in the past couple of weeks. In an attempt to stop people gaining entry a digger has been placed at the gates.

A digger has been placed at the gates in an attempt to stop people accessing the site (LDRS).

Residents have described how homeless people and drug users have been sneaking around the back of the site as somewhere to go for shelter and to be out of sight. This is despite multiple measures put in place to stop entry on to both sites.

One Cobridge Road resident described the site as the "perfect place to go if you are a druggie", with another saying "this isn't unexpected really."

Paul Hewitt, who lives close to the site said: "I slept through the whole thing, but the only place there could be a fire is at the bottom end because the Lidl part has been cleared. I know people have still been breaking in sometimes because occasionally you'll see signs of life.

"More really needs to be done, this is not the first fire that has been started there. As far as I know nobody was hurt, which can only be a good thing."

READ MORE: Plans to keep 'temporary' Hanley car park for another 12 months rejected 

Free from clickbait, pop-up ads and unwanted surveys, Stoke Nub News is a quality online newspaper for our city.

Subscribe to our FREE weekly newsletter email HERE - just click the 'SIGN UP' button.

Please consider following Stoke Nub News on Facebook or Twitter.