How would you save Hanley?

IDEAS: Free car parks, an ice rink and trams are among suggestions for Hanley, below.

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SHOPPERS are calling for free parking, better transport links and covered walkways to help turnaround Hanley’s fortunes.

Consultants are being paid £200,000 to draw up a masterplan to transform the city centre.

Leaders at Stoke-on-Trent City Council say a ‘radical but deliverable’ plan is needed to reverse years of decline and make Hanley fit for the future.

The authority last produced a city centre plan in 2010. 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.

Now a ‘fresh strategy’ is needed to attract investment and bring about a long-term transformation. And residents have plenty ideas on what would entice them back to Hanley as a consultation began.

One major point was improving transport links with evening buses, free travel from Stoke Station and a tram network to link the five other Potteries towns to Hanley.