Stoke City Council & 'The Place' That used to Be

Ashton Lovatt (Investigations officer – Environmental Crime Unit) has been contacted numerous times to bring attention to the dangerous fencing and dumping ground on Bryan Street in Hanley (where the Place Nightclub used to be in situ), but still, the area is a site for illegal fly-tipping. Local people living in the area have to walk past this monstrosity every day - not to mention, the site is turning the area I live in and grew up in, into a dangerous slum.

The environmental office was first contacted late 2023/early 2024 and we did make some ground clearing the disgusting mess left by this company (they sent me an email to thank me for my help). However, that same company consistently used threadbare and ramshackle fencing to make impromptu repairs to secure the area and so the area quickly fell into disrepair again.

It gets worse, on December 9th, 2024, the fencing collapsed once more which saw the public pavement blocked. This forced pedestrians onto the main road and rendered the area very perilous as one heavy section of fence looked as though it was about to fall.

I contacted Ashton Lovatt in December 2024 due to the dangerous state of the area (again) but he did not respond.

Nevertheless, the fencing was haphazardly repaired (December 18th?2024) with the surplus fencing just dumped behind the perimeter.? A complaint was then formulated on January 14th 2025. I copied Jane Ashton and Dominic Gratty into the email. How rude/ignorant, irresponsible and unprofessional that they have not responded, bearing in mind the dangers the public are facing because of the perimeter.

Then on the 25th of January 2025 after high winds, the fencing collapsed again (see video at end of piece). ?This time there are huge nails jutting out of the fencing and vehicles cannot turn onto Brewery Steet because of the danger. High winds are no mitigation. Every other responsible company nationwide has not seen their employment/company sites reduced to this appalling mess because of strong winds.? As detailed previous and to recapitulate; the fence securing’s are ramshackle and threadbare.

It appears as if the environmental crime unit is afraid to tackle businesses that are illegally dumping/fly-tipping but prosecutes individuals willy-nilly and without fail.??This is a discriminatory two-tier system of policy and punishment.?It also appears that the council are afraid to explain to the company offender that they need to install robust fencing to secure the land/protect the public. I have offered to make contact with the offender myself if the unit is too afraid to call the companies out for their crimes. Currently, there is a huge illegal dump at the site that has been there for over a year.

?Resolution from this complaint:

I would like the area secured with proper/robust fencing.

I would like to see evidence that the environmental unit has informed the company that they cannot keep using ramshackle/unsafe fencing to secure the area.

I would also like to see evidence that this company have been fined. I would also like to peruse council statistics on all fines meted out to companies for fly-tipping/illegal dumping.

What a disgraceful situation. If this matter is not resolved satisfactorily, I will have to lodge an official complaint and/or contact the media and other interested groups.