‘£56m boost shows city is forgotten no longer’
THE ‘great city of Stoke-on-trent’, as the Chancellor named it in his recent Budget, is forgotten no longer.
A Conservative-led council, Conservative MPS, and a Conservative Government have fought for the people of Stoke-on-trent and have secured not one, not two, but three fantastic bids, bringing £56 million of investment to regenerate our great city.
Stoke-on-trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke has a rich heritage, but sadly much of it has faded from its former glory.
That is why I am delighted that, through one of the three levelling up fund bids, £20 million of funding has been allocated to breathe new life into Stoke-on-trent’s heritage high streets.
A total of £3.5 million of this will be used to refurbish and repurpose Tunstall library and baths, while preserving its beautiful heritage.
The library will move into the newly refurbished Tunstall Town Hall, while the library and baths building will be revamped to provide Tunstall with 32 apartments, a multi-purpose exhibition space and café.
Located directly adjacent to Tunstall High Street, the restoration of this prominent heritage building will bring new life and activity to Tunstall.
Our team of Conservative MPS and councils have also secured Government backing to level up our public transport.
I am thrilled that on top of the three Levelling Up Fund bids, the Chancellor has confirmed that we have secured support from the Restoring Your
Railway ideas fund to look at reopening the important Stoke to Leek line.
The sum of £50,000 will be used to conduct a feasibility study on restoring passenger services, which have not been run here since the 1950s.
Getting this line reopen would create opportunities for education, business and leisure.
It would allow students in Leek and Milton to consider attending Stoke-ontrent Sixth Form College, with its Ukleading T-levels, and even Staffordshire University, the UK leader in video games technology.
People from Leek would be able to experience the delights of the beautiful, traditional village of Milton – including the Teapot and its incredible high street – just as the people of Milton can easily enjoy a visit to Leek.
The line would also link us far better to the Peak District National Park, as well as Alton Towers.
It can connect our wonderful towns, so people could visit the fantastic award-winning Gladstone Pottery Museum in the south or – in my opinion – the far superior Middleport Pottery museum, where shows such as Peaky Blinders and The Great Pottery Throw Down have been filmed.
Getting the Stoke to Leek line reopened is an important piece of our levelling up jigsaw, and would build on the £29 million secured previously through the Transforming Cities Fund to overhaul our city’s public transport.
Plans for this significant funding include a revamp of the train station, where a new transport hub is to be created that will offer local commuters and visitors to the city better access to taxis, buses and cycling, while also improving walking routes to and from the station.
The Transforming Cities Fund will also work to vastly improve Stoke-ontrent’s bus links.
With 30 per cent of Stoke-on-trent’s residents not owning a car and bus usage down massively, from 15 million to 9.3 million journeys over the past decade, better buses really are key to levelling up our city.
We need to see more reliability, better connectivity for places like Brindley Ford and Milton, and fairer fares.
To ensure our bus network gets the radical reform it needs to be fit for purpose, we are also bidding for up to £90 million of funding via the Government’s Bus Back Better strategy.
Our Conservative team in Stoke-ontrent has made a great start to levelling up the Potteries.
So far, we have secured more than £100 million of Government investment for our city.
Of course, there is more to do, but unlike the Labour party we have a plan and are delivering on it.
Under this Conservative Chancellor and Prime Minister, Stoke-on-trent is forgotten no longer.