MIDDLEPORT

– inner city, mixture of terraced housing, social housing and industry

- Located in the area of RENEW North Staffordshire, the Housing Market

Renewal Pathfinder

- Area of Major Intervention

BURSLEM & MIDDLEPORT LOCAL FORUM

- Residents’ consultation group established by the Pathfinder

MIDLAND HEART

- Housing Association based in the area

URBAN VISION

- Architecture Centre & Community Interest Company based in the area

MIDDLEPORT SELF BUILD – A CASE STUDY

Burslem & Middleport Local Forum held a

Community Design Festival in St Paul’s

Church Middleport in March 2013.

The aim of the Festival was to promote

self-build housing development to help

regenerate the Middleport area.

46 people attended the 2 day event and

design proposals for five housing

schemes in Middleport were produced.

Funder - Design Council CABE

Organiser - Urban Vision North Staffordshire

Sponsor - Midland Heart Housing Association

Support - North Staffordshire Society of Architects

MIDDLEPORT COMMUNITY DESIGN FESTIVAL

THE AFTERMATH OF RENEW NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE

What was taken away?

400+ HOMES DEMOLISHED400+ FAMILIES DISPLACED100+ JOBS LOST

What was put back?

NEW HEALTH CENTRE33 HOMES REFURBISHED160 HOMES FACELIFTED

WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT MIDDLEPORT?

· Heritage

· Local people

· Close to Tunstall and Burslem

· The park and green spaces

· Shops in Newcastle Street

· Good transport links – road, rail and canal

· Local employers, Steelite

· New Health Centre

· The Canal

· Local skills

· Investment by Prince’s Regeneration Trust

· Good pubs

· Development opportunities – housing

· Burslem Port

· The Local Forum

WHAT’S BAD ABOUT MIDDLEPORT?

· Poor visual image – scrap yards, vacant sites, conflicting commercial uses

· Poor maintenance of private rented houses

· Demolition of people’s homes

· Plans not followed through after demolition

· Adverse effect of demolition on businesses

· Social problems

· Lack of confidence, apathy, cynicism

· Community not listened to

· Council’s master plan not adopted

· Some poor quality new development

WHAT’S NEEDS TO CHANGE?

· The community should be valued more and listened to better

· Encourage better employers

· Support small businesses

· Provide a wider range of housing –

affordable and market housing

· Provide well-designed business start-up units

· Relocate bad neighbour uses, like waste transfer station

· Create new community-led mechanisms to bring about change, such as a community

development trust

· Adopt a master plan that is supported by the community and not just the Council

· Give rate relief to enterprise units

· Encourage community-led projects

MIDDLEPORT COMMUNITY DESIGN FESTIVAL

Five sites for green self-build homes

Local people

Local businesses

Local architects

Local politicians

WE LOOKED AT FIVE SITES

SITE 1 – Oliver’s Mill / Newport House

SITE 2 – Burslem Port

SITE 3 – Middleport Hub

SITE 4 – Newport Lane

SITE 5 – Travers Street / Harper Street

PEOPLE AT THE COMMUNITY DESIGN

FESTIVAL

PEOPLE AT THE COMMUNITY DESIGN

FESTIVAL

PEOPLE AT THE COMMUNITY DESIGN

FESTIVAL

PROPOSAL FOR SITE 1 OLIVER’S MILL

• Scrap yard use re-located

to industrial estate elsewhere

• Canal side housing with

sunspaces and photovoltaic

panels on south side

• Listed Oliver’s Mill

converted to enterprise units

PROPOSAL FOR SITE 1 OLIVER’S MILL

PROPOSAL FOR SITE 2 - BURSLEM PORT WHARF

• Waste transfer station re-located to

industrial estate elsewhere

• Marina / mooring for canal boats

• Café and boaters’ facilities

• Eco-friendly, colourful marina homes

with wetland and boardwalks

• Wharf building converted to

community centre

PROPOSAL FOR SITE 2 - BURSLEM PORT

WHARF

PROPOSAL FOR SITE 3 – MIDDLEPORT HUB

• This crossroads turned into a remarkable

concentration of small industrial uses and

homes, with eco features making positive use

of waste and mitigating noise.

• New feature chimney atop a district heating

system and attractive new community

buildings to revive the spirit of the much-missed

Middleport Club

PROPOSAL FOR SITE 3 – MIDDLEPORT HUB

PROPOSAL FOR SITE 4 – NEWPORT LANE

• This scheme maintained the heritage

character of Newport Lane while creating an

ultra-modern two story community

development with orchards and a brand new

road to improve the link to Middleport Pottery.

PROPOSAL FOR SITE 4 – NEWPORT LANE

PROPOSAL FOR SITE 5 – TRAVERS STREET

• This proposal aims to keep the boarded up houses in Travers Street and

Harper Street and convert them into a mixture of 3-bedroom family homes

with older persons accommodation on the ground floor.

• Some ground floor units would be work spaces associated with the

houses – making live / work units.

• Some units would be short rentals for visitors to local tourist destinations,

such as Middleport Pottery.

PROPOSAL FOR SITE 5 – TRAVERS STREET

FOLLOW UP ACTIONS

Formal proposal to Stoke-on-Trent City Council asking that Travers Street be not demolished and the Local Forum given the opportunity to seek funding to recruit self-builders, work up a detailed scheme and carry out the proposed development.

Rejected by the City Council, but Local Forum invited to look at one of the other sites – Newport Lane – once it had been cleared by the Council.

CURRENT POSITION

The Local Forum has become a formally constituted group, to qualify for HCA support.

An application has been made to the Homes and Communities Agency for grant to produce a detailed scheme for the Newport Lane site, and make a planning application for it (not a CRTBO).

If the HCA application is approved, the Local Forum will start to recruit potential self-builders and will work with them to develop designs for a group of eco-homes on the Newport Lane site (which is now cleared).

Postscript – the Prince’s Regeneration Trust, which is refurbishing Middleport Pottery, has been given the Travers Street terrace so the Trust can refurbish the boarded-up houses.