MICKY LOVES HIS WIDE BOYS
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Reporting local life since 1854
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
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Date is set for blackmail plea
HOW WE BEAT LUNG CANCER
A MAN charged with conspiracy to blackmail after several explosions in North Staffordshire, will enter his plea on December 10. Kevin Proctor, aged 43, of The Greenways, Milton, is accused of conspiring with others to make an unwarranted demand for money with menace between June 21 and August 17. Staffordshire Police launched an investigation in August following explosions at houses in Weston Coyney, Blythe Bridge and Cheadle. Proctor was granted bail until the next hearing at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court. Jason Taft, aged 40, of Bagnall, along with Thomas Leslie, aged 54 and 34-year-old Thomas Leslie, from County Down in Northern Ireland are also charged in connection with the case.
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Revamped proposals drawn up after council land dispute
SHOPPING CENTRE PLAN SCALED BACK BY ALEX CAMPBELL
alex.campbell@thesentinel.co.uk
BUILDING work on the £15 million expansion of the Potteries Shopping Centre will begin within months – despite a land dispute with the city council. Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) is on track to open an eight-screen multiplex cinema, six restaurants and a new leisure attraction at the Hanley site by February 2015 – creating 180 jobs. But the plans have had to be scaled back after Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s controversial refusal to sell land needed for the full expansion. It means one restaurant and a boulevard will not be included in the new plan, while another
restaurant will be much smaller. News of the reduced scheme comes as CSC reiterated its view that Hanley’s planned £350 million City Sentral shopping centre will never happen. And The Sentinel can reveal that Realis Estates, which is behind the City Sentral plans, is now speculating its development could open in ‘early 2016’ – not 2015 as previously pledged. CSC chief executive Mike Butterworth said: “Our expansion is not for retail. We’re not promoting any more shops, but there is clear demand for restaurants and a cinema. “This has full board approval, we have got the money and we have got the tenants. We won’t name names until the final
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deals are signed but they are with our lawyers already. “This format has worked at our sites elsewhere in the country but it has been stifled by the council here and inevitably the Potteries Shopping Centre is one of our less well-performing centres as a result.” Just under 3,000 people work at the Potteries Shopping Centre. But CSC says business will suffer without the added facilities due to competition from internet shopping. Its initial plans were given planning permission by the city council – but the authority refused to sell land in Brewery Street and Bryan Street needed for the project amid concerns the expansion could harm City Sentral. Martin Breeden, CSC’s asset man-
agement director, below left, said: “We’re increasingly competing with supermarkets and the internet. “We have to give a reason for people to come out by having a broader offer and extending their shopping day. “If we were building the Potteries Shopping Centre now, these are the sorts of things we’d look to include.” Shoppers have welcomed news of the centre’s latest plan. Mum-of-two Tara Lee, aged 28, of Hanley, said: “It sounds great. It would give us more of a reason to make a day of it as a family.”
Carer is freed from jail cell JAILED carer Frank Wade has won a cut in his prison sentence – and was freed immediately. In August, Wade admitted attempting to murder his wife. The 55-year-old snapped after seeing Susan Wade’s life spiral out of control through drink and depression. The Court of Appeal has now ruled his two-and-a-halfyear sentence was excessive. See Page 2
and toddler
of the year 2012
DOUBLE VOTES! Voting form: Page 14
What do you think of CSC’s plan? Email us at letters@thesentinel.co.uk Plans held back for years: Page 6
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