The Sentinel, 22.03.2008

Proposals for a new leisure and retail complex have brought Hanley nearer to its elusive ring road. Deputy business editor Graeme Brown speaks to experts about its probable impact on the city centre.

Shoppers, traders and motorists hope the eight year wait for work to start on Hanley's missing ring road is nearly over. Developer Lear Management wants to start work this autumn on the £70M plans, which include bulding part of the missing "golden half-mile" of the Potteries Way.

Experts say the scheme, first put forward in 2000, is a major part of major plans to regenerate Hanley and make it a retail and leisure hub for the Midlands. And Staffordshire Police say the new road will make Hanley safer for night time visitors.

Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Mark Fisher welcomed the new plans and said Hanley's dilapidated bus-station and East West Precinct should be next on the agenda.