Plans to install wayfinding markers as part of a new heritage walking trail in Stoke have been approved by Stoke on Trent City Council. 

Applications submitted by the council for steel plinths with bronze casts of ceramics associated with nearby historic pottery sites have been approved for four locations.

Plans have been approved to build markers at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Hanley, on Lawrence Street in Shelton, on Cauldon Park Stoke Road in Shelton and on Hartshill Road in Stoke.

The markers will be part of the Living Heritage City Trail project which hoped to create a walking trail from the Spode site in Stoke to the Potteries Museum in Hanley. 

The markers will mostly be built on vacant pavement, except for one location where a bin will need to be moved. 

The application also explained that the heritage trail will be available digitally via an app with GPS locations to each of the markers. 

The planning application said: "The proposed installation of wayfinding markers at the selected locations will seek to amplify the communal value of the key sites (as part of the Trail) - allowing and encouraging more people to connect and share their collective experiences and cultural (non-tangible) memories." 

The application explained that many of the markers will be associated with sites that are no longer visible, and the bronze casts will allow the public to see visual evidence of the city's ceramic heritage. 

Some of the sites the council hopes to feature on the full trail include Bell Works, a former pottery production site where the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery now stands, Cauldon Place Works, which was one of the largest pottery factories in Stoke-on-Trent, and Spode Works, which manufactured pottery from around the 1750s up to 2008. 

The planning application stated: "Layers of interpretation have been created to help people to understand the tangible and intangible heritage contexts along/nearby the route. 

"One core strand of interpretation is focussed around the theme 'Ceramic City', which identifies thirteen important locations along the route – with a significant connection to the city's ceramic industry and recently awarded 'World Craft City' status."