Council leaders say it is 'critical' that people are listened to over a new city centre masterplan – after previous visions failed to materialise.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council will pay consultants up to £200,000 to develop the new city centre plan, which will help guide development in the area over the next 10 to 15 years.

Various proposals to revive Hanley have come and gone over the decades, with plans for a controversial shopping complex collapsing and the council's current Labour administration scrapping their Tory predecessors' plans for an indoor arena and new plans for Etruscan Square being developed. Cabinet members have now agreed to hire external specialists to develop a new city centre plan, which will include strategies on retail, leisure, housing and infrastructure, taking into account how city centre uses have changed in recent years.

External specialists will be hired to develop a new city centre plan (Nub News).

Finlay Gordon-McCusker, cabinet member for transport, infrastructure and regeneration, said he could understand people's 'scepticism' when it came to the city centre, and so their input would be actively sought. He said: "What's critically important about this is that throughout the plan, the voices of residents, businesses, visitors and others are heard and represented in the outcomes. It's important that we work with the people of the city when developing plans like this."

According to the report to cabinet, a 'radical but deliverable change in approach' to the city centre is now needed, which will help 'catalyse immediate action and stimulate future investment'.

Cllr Gordon-McCusker added: "Like everyone else, we want to see our city centre realise its true potential, and I don't think it's any secret that it's not living up to expectations. It's really important, for the future of our city and our city centre, that we do this work and we do this planning.

"As we all know, the nature of city centres and high streets has changed enormously over the last few years, which has been exacerbated by Covid. We know there's a lot of work to do to improve our city centre and succeed in the future, and this plan is part of that."

The council will pay consultants up to £200,000 to develop the new city centre plan (Nub News).

The council has not produced a formal city centre plan since 2010. Councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for children's services, who also sat on the cabinet 14 years ago, believes it is important to learn from previous failures.

She said: "Some of us were around when the last plan got done in 2010. We might remember the disaster that was City Sentral. What's really important about this is that it has to happen. If you look at some of the comments on Stoke-on-Trent Live, people have been saying, 'Oh yeah, here we go again.'

"So it's up to us to make sure that this comes to fruition, and we find a way through to find a future for the city centre."

Funding for the development of the city centre plan will come from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Levelling Up Partnership, and the plan is due to be produced by next April. The city council will procure a consultant to do the work from Homes England's Development and Regeneration Technical Services framework, which includes a range of national firms specialising in this sort of work.

Councillor Dan Jellyman, leader of the Conservative opposition group, says the council should give local firms a chance to bid for the work. He said: "Labour have always gone on about keeping the Stoke pound in Stoke, but when they have a chance to do that, they're not doing it. There are a number of local businesses which could do this work. Using the Homes England framework might save a couple of weeks, but if this is a plan for the next 15 years, is that really important?"

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