Council strikes land deal that will safeguard public open space and boost key developments and improvements across city

The city council has acquired six pieces of land from a major developer in Stoke-on-Trent for a minimal fee.

St Modwen Properties has agreed a deal to transfer a number of sites it owns across the city to the authority as part of a single package.

The agreement will help the council carry out a series of improvement projects, including supporting a key public transport link road, enhancing children’s play facilities and ensuring popular greenspace is safeguarded for future generations.

The sites are:

·        Land at Newport Lane, Burslem (1.45 acres). This parcel of land will support delivery of the multi-million-pound Newport Lane Link Road, a key project in the local Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). This will improve bus reliability and safer active travel by reducing congestion delays and will create smoother connections between Burslem and Tunstall and Etruria Valley. It supports BSIP objectives by enhancing punctuality, increasing network capacity and encouraging a shift to public transport, benefitting all road users.

·        Land known as ‘South Stoke Play Park’, Edgbaston Drive, Trentham Lakes (1.93 acres). Potential improvements will focus on the exiting children’s play facility and multi-use games area. The council intends to use money from the £500,000 parks and greenspace capital improvements project to give the play area a “spring clean” and to replace and restore panels behind football goals on the games area   

·        Land at Berryhill Fields (148 acres). The council intends to ensure this site is safeguarded as public open space and will work with other landowners and Staffordshire Wildlife Trust to maximise its potential as a natural asset alongside the existing council-owned nature reserve. Over the coming months, the council will engage with the surrounding communities to explore ideas and what can be done.

·        Mossfield Road, Longton (3.85 acres).  The council is reviewing what potential works need to be carried out to the roadway. The intention is to invest in essential works to bring the road up to highways adoption standard. This includes alleviating drainage and flooding issues. The site connects to Berryhill Fields, opening up other connectivity options for the future.

·        Land to the east of Woodpark Lane and Lightwood Lane, Longton (22 acres). Options are being reviewed in terms of potential development on the land. It has been identified as part of a Broad Location in the draft Local Plan for residential development. This has been the subject to a public consultation and feedback is still being reviewed.

·        The headlease for Festival Park (165 acres). The council has put in place arrangements for the continuity of the management of the popular retail, hospitality and leisure park and surrounding greenspace to ensure that it continues to be maintained safely and to a good standard.

Councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for finance, anti-poverty and corporate services at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “We believe this is a best-value use of council resources because acquiring the package of land enables us to gain control of some key strategic sites that have great potential, both in the short and long term.

“These include land at Berryhill Fields, where acquiring the site enables its protection and enhancement as part of a wider area of publicly accessible open space with improved biodiversity.

“In addition, acquiring the Newport Lane site enables connectivity with the proposed Newport Lane Bridge as part of the Bus Services Improvement Plan (BSIP), which will enable us to provide a bus-only link connecting the north of the city with employment opportunities in Etruria Valley.”