Former MP calls for more co-ordination to heritage led regeneration.

Former Stoke-on-Trent North MP Joan Walley – a driving force for decades behind Burslem regeneration –  has called for a more coordinated approach to heritage-led regeneration following last week’s shock demolition of the listed frontage of the town’s former Wade factory.

She said investment, stronger expectations of property owners and better coordination between council departments were needed to bring abandoned buildings back into use and support the town’s long-term revival.

Her comments follow proposed safety works at the Grade II-listed Westport Road site, which dates from 1814 and has been empty since Wade relocated in 2010. 

The works followed a Section 77 notice issued by Stoke-on-Trent City Council on October 6, requiring the owners to remove parts of the building identified as dangerous. The building was identified as being at risk in the council’s Heritage Emergency Prospectus, published earlier this year.