Consultants will be paid up to £200,000 to draw up a new masterplan to transform Stoke-on-Trent city centre.

Leaders at Stoke-on-Trent City Council say a 'radical but deliverable' plan is needed to reverse years of decline and develop a city centre that is fit for the future.

The city council last produced a city centre plan in 2010, and since then Hanley has had to contend with the further decline of the high street, the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of working from home, resulting in an increasing number of empty and underused buildings. According to a council report, a 'fresh strategy' is now needed in order to attract investment and bring about a long-term transformation.

External consultants will be paid to produce the new plan, due to the lack of in-house expertise, with the final version expected to be ready by the end of next April. A budget of £200,000 has been set aside for the work, with the money coming from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Levelling Up Partnership.

The city council has been developing fresh proposals for the Etruscan Square development (Pete Stonier).

The council says it will work closely with Homes England and other national and local partner on the plan. Cabinet members will be asked to approve the development of the city centre plan when they meet next Tuesday.

The report to cabinet states: "There have been major changes in recent years in the ways that urban centres function, based on changing consumer and business preferences. Despite the best efforts of the city council, the Business Improvement District and committed long-term developers, the city centre is not fulfilling its role as the main centre for high density living, congregation and trade.

"A new and refreshed city centre plan is required that combines a radical but deliverable change in approach to patterns of use and development in the city centre, and the development of the right institutional vehicle(s) and governance for achieving the required catalyst for immediate action and stimulating future investment which will lead to long-term transformation."

The plan will include strategies relating to commercial uses, residential, leisure, public realm and infrastructure, with a 'clear perspective on phasing' over 10 to 15 years. Once completed, it will form part of Stoke-on-Trent's forthcoming local plan, which will guide all development in the city up to the year 2040.

The council will pay up to £200,000 for the new masterplan (Nub News).

The city council has been developing fresh proposals for the Etruscan Square development in Hanley since the authority's Labour leaders scrapped plans inherited from the previous Conservative administration last year.

Jonathan Bellamy, chair of Stoke-on-Trent City Centre Business Improvement District, welcomed the development of a new city centre plan.

He said: "Producing a new city centre plan is of vital importance. A document that can assess how our city centre has been impacted by a number of high impact factors over the last ten to twenty years, and then identify a strategic vision and clear, deliverable actions, to reposition that city centre to prosper in the coming years, is definitely needed.

"A top quality plan, delivered with the participation of stakeholders will provide a focused strategy that all will be able to get behind. It will foster confidence for the future, raise the profile of the city centre and critically it will also help to attract the investment required to actually deliver it."

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