Town's floral and wildlife plans get £500k boost

The aim is to make Stoke look brighter and greener to draw in more visitors.

Plans to make a town centre look brighter and greener have received £500,000 in government funding.

The money from the High Street Accelerator project is set to be spent on outdoor spaces in Stoke, to encourage more shoppers and families to visit.

Suggestions include floral meadows, a wild play area for children, and grants for businesses to make their premises look greener, said the city council.

Brightly coloured planters are also being proposed, as well as improvements to the walkway on the canal into the town, and organised nature walks around the area.

"As we know green space in Stoke town is limited. The approval of this funding is a positive step forward to helping to improve this," said Michael Escolme, chair of the Stoke High Street Accelerator (HSA) board and Spode Museum manager.

The funding will be used to increase visits to the high street, said Stoke-on-Trent city councillor Chris Robinson.

"We have identified a range of town centre entry points that would benefit from improvement to encourage the flow of people.

"We will use the money to create pretty floral meadows, and pockets of wildlife to attract families in particular," said the councillor.

Businesses and community groups are being invited to an HSA meeting in June to talk about the challenges Stoke is facing, and what could help improve the town centre.