This is Staffordshire --TRAMS should return to the streets of North Staffordshire after more than 80 years – councillors have claimed.
Stoke-on-Trent's last electric trams stopped running in 1928, but light rail transit (LRT) systems have since made a comeback in many British cities.
Members of the development management policy group at Stoke-on-Trent City Council raised the idea of trams and better local rail links during a discussion on sustainable transport yesterday.
Councillor Andy Platt, pictured below, who is also cabinet member for green enterprises, believes Stoke-on-Trent should follow the lead of Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield in investing in trams.
Mr Platt told the committee that sustainable transport proposals for the Stoke-on-Trent were too focused on the city's road network.
He said: "It just seems that in 10, 20 or 40 years we're still going to be talking about the same minor improvements to our roads.
"I've spent some time in Prague and they really do have an integrated transport system over there. Now I'm not suggesting we're going to get a three-line metro overnight, or a new tram system tomorrow.
"But they're just been digging up the old tram tracks in Hanley with the new surfacing work, and I can't help but think we've missed a trick.
"We were one of the first cities to get rid of our trams, but now we're one of the last to bring them back. We've got to think about this for the next round of Government funding after 2015.
"If you look at Manchester, it might have taken them years to get it off the ground, but now their LRT is one of the most successful in Europe.
"It makes money, and wherever the LRT goes, house prices go up."
Members of the committee also called for the council to work with Moorland and City Railways in re-opening the Stoke-on-Trent to Leek railway line to passenger trains.
They said this would benefit residential areas, such as Bentilee, which lie close to the currently disused line.
Committee chairman Tom Reynolds said he supported the idea of an LRT, but argued that a Passenger Transport Authority, similar to Transport for Greater Manchester, would be needed to bring it to fruition.
He said: "I agree with what Mr Platt says, but if we are going to think the unthinkable around transport, we need a passenger transport authority. I would look to cabinet members to take up this issue and get the ball rolling."
Austin Knott, the council's policy planning and transportation manager, told the committee the city would need to find significant levels of funding for a tram system.
He said: "The thing about trams is that they are very expensive. Manchester has a PTA, which has helped them, and Nottingham was one of three cities that received funding from the old East Midlands region.
"The problem we've had is that most of the regional funding has gone to the big conurbation in the centre of the West Midlands. But some of the money that used to go to Birmingham has now been diverted to Stoke-on-Trent." Reported by This is 3 hours ago.