Families living next to a fire-hit historic house are demanding action to stop young troublemakers getting inside. Ford Green House in Smallthorne is believed to be Stoke-on-Trent's oldest surviving home.

But the Victorian-style property has become a magnet for anti-social behaviour over the last 15 years. The latest incident saw emergency services race to the Ford Green Road site last weekend.

Officers say the dilapidated house – which dates back as far as at least 1843 – is now 'unsafe' and are urging people to stay away. Previous plans to knock down the property and build houses on the site have never materialised.

According to deed documents, the house, not to be confused with the nearby Ford Green Hall – the 17th century timber-framed farmhouse which is now a museum – may well have once been home to the Baroness of Stafford.

Emergency services were called to a deliberate fire at the house last weekend (Dom Jennings).

Residents living nearby say they just want a solution to the ongoing problem. Tudor Rose Way resident Lisa Jones said: "I just wish somebody bought it and wanted to do something nice with it, it's a shame. At the moment it's just a nuisance and is obviously attracting the wrong type of people as it keeps being set on fire."

Another resident Ann Street said: "I didn't want them to knock it down but now I think it's for the best. It's a real shame but it's now an attraction for anti-social behaviour."

The house has been set on fire three times in the past 12 years, first in 2012, then again in 2022 and most recently over the weekend.

Staffordshire Police have confirmed that witnesses describe a group of young people, aged 12 to 14 running away from the area on Sunday, March 24.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council's planning portal lists four planning applications made since 2009, with the demolition of outbuildings and conversion of Ford Green House into two dwellings and erection of a further seven dwellings approved in 2020. However, just two years later an application to demolish Ford Green House was refused by the council.

Now the future of the site is not known, the council so far have not commented on the situation. There is a pending planning application from March 2023 to demolish the property which was submitted just 10 days after the previous refusal.

------------

READ MORE: Stoke: Win a Golf R car this Easter weekend

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

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

Please consider following Stoke Nub News on Facebook or Twitter.