Padel courts, a major cultural venue and space for businesses are all included in plans to transform an historic former potbank.

Developer Capital & Centric has submitted a planning application for the Grade II listed Spode site in Stoke, which aims to bring it back into use as a 'vibrant destination'.

The proposals will see some buildings, including China Halls, restored and re-purposed, while others will be demolished.

Gordon House in Kingsway, a 1960s commercial development, will be knocked down to open up the front of China Halls and provide space for a 'Potters garden'.

China Halls, the largest building on the site, will be refurbished and turned into a flexible venue for exhibitions, events and community activity.

Buildings next to China Halls will be demolished to make way for covered padel courts, with the Bisque Store being turned into facilities for players and a cafe.

The neighbouring Carriage Arch will become a bar, while studios for creative businesses will be provided in other restored buildings.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council secured £10 million of Levelling Up cash for the Spode site in 2021, but progress on the redevelopment has been slow, as has been the case with most of the city's Levelling Up schemes.

Capital & Centric, the company behind the Goods Yard development – the only Levelling Up project in Stoke-on-Trent to be completed so far – was selected as the council's new development partner for Spode last year.

The new planning application covers the first phase of Capital & Centric's plans for Spode, with later phases expected to deliver more than 100 new homes.

The application states: "The proposals deliver a landscape-led regeneration of the Spode Works site, focused on the conservation, repair and reuse of its most significant historic buildings and spaces.

"Through sensitive refurbishment, selective demolition and carefully integrated new interventions, the scheme reanimates the site as a vibrant destination for creative, cultural, commercial and leisure activities, while improving access and revealing its industrial heritage."

According to the plans, the works will be carried out in two stages, allowing current users of the site to continue operating. ACAVA will be relocated to China Halls prior to the removal and partial demolition of buildings 8P and 8E.

The application says the new padel courts will form a 'new dynamic centre' of the Spode site. 'Bespoke canopies' over the courts will aim to echo the rooflines of the China Halls.

Padel, a form of tennis, is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and several padel centres in North Staffordshire are already open or on the way.

China Halls, which has previously hosted the British Ceramics Biennial, will be 're-imagined as one of the principal cultural and public destinations' at Spode. The building will also serve as a new entrance to the wider site.

Council planners are expected to determine the Spode application by October, and if approved, the scheme is due for completion next year.