Clearing the way for town’s future

The changing landscape of Stafford is graphically demonstrated by this dramatic image captured in the town this week.

Buildings are being flattened at various sites in preparation for what civic chiefs are crusading as the “regeneration” of the town centre.

Just this week the Stafford Arms pub, in Railway Street, was finally levelled and demolition work on the Riverside Recreation Centre and the neighbouring row of council houses in South Walls is in its final stages.

Demolition of the Stafford Arms – a Victorian building which has fallen derelict since closing more than a year ago – has gone ahead despite an outcry from real ale campaigners.

Warwick Holdings Ltd, the parent company of Mercedes Benz of Stafford, is to use the site to provide extra parking and car display for the neighbouring motor dealership in Victoria Road.

The recreation centre site and the land on which the council houses stood will form part of the Riverside Regeneration scheme being planned by the Claymoss Group.

Revised plans for the project, which also takes in the old Tesco store and multi-storey car park and some of the Lichfield Road traffic island, have yet to be submitted to Stafford Borough Council.

The site will be used for a mixed development including a six-screen cinema, hotel, major department store, 12 shops, seven bars and restaurants, 330 apartments, 200 homes for the elderly in a sheltered housing scheme and parking for 1,200 vehicles.

Before the development begins the recreation centre land will be used as a temporary car park.

Work is all part of a planned £500 million investment in Stafford aimed at rejuvenating the town, including a £60 million redevelopment of Stafford College.