Roadworks on the street outside Stoke-on-Trent Station have been completed two years after they first started.

Station Road, in Stoke, reopened fully on Monday morning (11 August) with changes including wider pavements, a bus gate with ANPR cameras at Winton Square, new bus stops, seating and the relocated Josiah Wedgwood statue. 

The project, which started in August 2023, is part of a £29 million programme of projects funded by the government's 'Transforming Cities Fund', first developed in 2017 under the council's previous Conservative administration.

The city council says the completion of the works will lead to a better experience for residents and commuters with improved access and connections to the city centre.

Cllr Finlay Gordon-McCusker, cabinet member for transport, regeneration and infrastructure, said: "My initial reaction to seeing this complete is relief, as I'm sure people who use the station and drive through this area will feel too. 

There is real time bus information coming but the bus stops are yet to be completed. (Nub News)

"I think the entrance to the station was tired, it was crowded and it didn't feel like the welcome that Stoke-on-Trent deserves.

"So when we started this project it was about much more than new paving, it was about giving our city a front door we could be proud of, a place where someone stepping off the train for the first time thinks 'yes this is where I want to spend some time'.

"The way a place looks and feels changes the way that we see ourselves."

Cllr Gordon-McCusker hopes that as motorists have become used to avoiding Station Road during the two years of roadworks, it will mean there won't be people caught out by the bus gate in the future. 

The new bus stops will have real-time bus information, as is being rolled out at stops throughout the city and there are hopes the scheme will contribute to the council's ongoing work to improve bus services. There are also various drop-off points located around the station.

Cllr Gordon-McCusker added: "We have got three car parks people can use either side of the bus gate and it gives choice for people as there are improved bus routes and there is plenty of parking.

"These changes do take a little time to get used to."

The bus gate at Winton Square on Station Road means only buses, taxis, cyclists and emergency vehicles can pass through.

There were 14 cars, vans and lorries which passed through the bus gate between 9:30am and 10am on Monday (11 August) but the council is assuring motorists that the bus gate is not yet active and they won't be fined for now with 'extra signage' set to be installed to warn drivers.

A time capsule with items from the Wedgwood collection has also been placed underneath the statue. 

The time capsule has been placed under the paving in front of the Josiah Wedgwood Statue outside Stoke-on-Trent station. (Nub News)

Items include pictures of what the area looked like when the Wedgwood statue was first placed in Winton Square in 1863, what it looks like now, a smaller version of the statue and a variety of items from the Wedgwood Museum. 

V&A Wedgwood Collection team member, Lucy Lead, said: "Different parts of Wedgwood have contributed lots of different little pieces to put in the capsule.

"So there is a nice representation of items from us and also different businesses around the area.

"Not only is Wedgwood one of those names which people automatically associate with Stoke-on-Trent but also the statue itself is really important as there is our own cast of this statue outside the Wedgwood Museum.

"In the 1960s someone from Wedgwood was married to someone who worked at Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the husband found the original plaster mould for the statue hidden away in a forgotten room and then that led to one of our Wedgwood modellers preparing it before we cast our own version."