Stoke-on-Trent - The Regeneration Game

'The Regeneration Game'
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"The grave of Bishop Bell (1883-1958) in Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford states in letters of austere limestone: "Without forgiveness there can be no regeneration." Stoke-on-Trent needs to reconcile itself with its past before it can renew."

Matthew Rice - "The Lost City of Stoke-on-Trent"

Matthew Rice - "The Lost City of Stoke-on-Trent"

The last few months have seen a number of notable events in the 'on-going regeneration' of Stoke-on-Trent. First of all we saw May's General Election and the formation of a coalition between the Tories and the Liberal Democrats, and subsequent announcements of changes in policy direction, impending cuts to public spending, and warnings of dark days ahead.

In North Staffordshire we saw the announcement of the winding-up of the North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership (NSRP) - the body formed to drive the regeneration of the region - which followed Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council's announcement that they intended to walk away from the NSRP, and Staffordshire Moorlands District Council's statement that they were "reviewing their position" in respect of the body. This was followed shortly by the resignation of Tom McCartney, the NSRP's Chief Executive.

The events in the industry in North Staffordshire mirrored those throughout the country, with regeneration companies being wound-up or services being taken in-house at local authorities, and projects and programmes being scaled back. It almost feels like the End of an Era.

If this really is the End of an Era, what will be the Legacy of the Regeneration Years?

Well…we have to say that hopefully the Legacy is yet to be realised. Though of course, any future successes would of course be hoodwinked by the NSRP’s successor(s)…

First off, there have been the creation of a pile of plans, masterplans, and strategies, and though delivery takes time – as we are constantly told by Mervin Smith – there simply has not been enough delivery.

In fact, given the many failures and lack of delivery, it could be argued that the overall strategy for the city was flawed from the off.

Instead of looking at the area’s strengths, and building on those, the approach seemed to be to ape those from other towns and cities: Stoke-on-Trent’s linear, multi-centred structure is potentially extremely sustainable, but this has been ignored in favour of an attempt to ‘create’ a real City Centre from Hanley, coupled with a ‘tear-everything-down-in-sight’ approach to the built environment. Surely what is required is a true city-wide strategy, tackling the fundamental causes of Stoke-on-Trent’s decline? Joe Holyoak is right.

In this respect, Tom McCartney’s comments on leaving his post are interesting; McCartney stated that he was looking forward to the building of the new bus station in Hanley… perhaps this intimates political pressures to deliver certain things, i.e. Hanley Bus Station?

Yes, Hanley Bus Station is currently an embarrassment, and the new station is important. But there are far more fundamental issues to tackle in the Potteries, far more important problems to solve.

And what of our politicians’ role? They have simply used regeneration as a Political Football, and now regeneration no longer seems to be flavour of the month in a political sense at a national level, the impact on our communities will be devastating. And although many will probably try to blame the previous Government, that’s difficult. North Staffordshire has received hundreds of millions of pounds of funding over the past ten years or so. If blame lies anywhere, I’m sorry to say it lies locally.

So, aside from the masterplans which may sit on an officer’s shelf, what has been delivered? In a physical sense. What can we go out and see, and point at, and say “yes, that’s a great improvement”? I’ve thought long and hard about this, and I cannot think of much. And I’m not saying that to score points, or to make a point. It’s bloody difficult, and that’s hard to take. Of the positives, I could probably point to around half a dozen projects that I’m sure will stand the test of time.

Countryside Properties’ attractive redevelopment of Cliffe Vale Pottery has seen the restoration of a pair of bottle kilns alongside the Trent and Mersey Canal, and the reuse and renovation of the main building along the frontage of the site (although there has been some demolition of the building, possibly too much).

The site enjoys a great outlook, across the canal and on to Hanley Cemetery, and has saved two of the city’s Listed Buildings that were deemed ‘at risk’. A great improvement.