Flats plan rejected for former Stoke-on-Trent pottery works

Proposals to convert a listed former pottery works into 87 flats have been rejected.

The Falcon Works, on Sturgess Street, Stoke-on-Trent, dates back to the 1870s but has been vacant for several years.

The site was bought by Diwan Property Development Ltd in 2021 which submitted the plans.

But city council planning officers refused permission due to the lack of affordable housing and said they would harm the character of the works.

The plans would have seen three new five-storey blocks of flats built to contain 63 apartments with another 24 created in the existing listed buildings.

One of the buildings, which contains two bottle kilns, would have been used for cycle storage.

Permission had been previously given in 2014 for 43 affordable apartments at the Falcon Works, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The latest plans did not contain any affordable homes and a statement submitted in the latest scheme said it would not be viable if any planning obligations were sought.

Diwan Property Development Ltd said its proposals would have public benefits including preserving the existing bottle kilns and regenerating a derelict site to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour.

The works were targeted by suspected arsonists in July and firefighters spent more than four hours tackling the blaze.

But several concerns were raised by planning officers who said it failed to provide any affordable housing and had not secured any contributions towards local healthcare infrastructure.

The design and scale of the proposed development would also cause "substantial harm" to the site's character and setting, they added.

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