In order to inform the emerging Local Plan, Stoke-on-Trent City Council is in the process of reviewing all of the city's conservation areas (CAs). This involves reviewing the boundaries of the original 23 areas, as well as the rights owners have over changes they can make to their properties.
Boundary changes have already been adopted for 20 areas, which include amalgamating the former Victoria Place and Hitchman Street CAs in Fenton into one new area to be know as the Victoria Road Conservation Area. The two remaining areas, Albert Square in Fenton and Winton Square by Stoke Station, are currently under review.
Much of the work on the review was undertaken by Conservation Officer Jane Corfield before she left the authority in August last year, so was based on an unparalleled understanding of the heritage of the city. Surprisingly few buildings found themselves now inside the expanded areas, as in most cases the changes sought to encompass under-developed, derelict or greenspaces in order to create a buffer to protect the areas from unsympathetic development. This is particularly the case for the canal corridors of the Caldon and Trent & Mersey Canals, where several allotment gardens have been incorporate within the conservation area boundaries.