An exclusive with John van de Laarschot, Chief Exec at Stoke-on-Trent City Council

John: Yes. I mean the LEPs are a really radical way of getting the private sector involved in terms of driving policy and driving change. If you buy into the argument, which I strongly support, that actually the economic recovery of this country will be predicated by the private sector and the role of the public sector is to support it, then actually joining a partnership of private and public sector bodies together to drive that change makes huge sense. Within that, what we were very keen on trying to get forward was the equivalent of an Enterprise Zone here in the city. That's tied in completely with our objective of trying to address worklessness. So yes we were really impressed that we felt that the Government had listened to ourselves and to other bodies that had lobbied for the equivalent of Enterprise Zones and we were rather disappointed to say the least that we haven't got one. They've only announced the first 11 and there are still many to go for, and with our partners across the county we will continue to fight to gain one for our geography.

Jonathan: Did they let you know why we didn't receive it the first time and have you been able to remedy that?

John: No not in so many words. There's a lot of hypothesis that the Enterprise Zones that were approved on the first round were predicated more on an outlook of future success than they were on the needs or deprivation of the past. Whether that's true or whether it's wrong I'm not sure. I think we've got a really compelling argument as to why we need one here and I continue to be highly optimistic that we will get one before the close of the second round.

Jonathan: Should we get one, what will be the impact for the city?

John: Well had no-one else got one it would have given us a competitive advantage in terms of trying to drive inward investment in, making us a catalyst for new business growth. On the basis that nearly every single LEP is going to have one then in essence it would put us on a level playing field with many of our neighbours. That said, it does underpin a real possibility for us to actively promote and encourage inward investment and growth within our manufacturing, distribution and business sector here, which we really need, to create jobs.

Jonathan: Looking at the towns, you've come to the city of Stoke-on-Trent, made up of the six towns. Obviously we had our centenary last year. One of the ongoing challenges is 'what's the identity of each of those towns?' How do they fit together to be one city. I know that the council has master plans for the different towns; can you sum up or identify the key identities and strategies for each town?

John: Yes and no; because I've thought since I've been here that if we're going to be the city of Stoke-on-Trent then we need to make that fundamental shift from a federation to a city, which is incredibly challenging because communities are very loyal up here. They're quite insular within their own communities and geographical area and there's a certain amount of parochialism within this city. For me it's a question of do we have politically and through all of our business communities and individual communities, the wherewithal and the desire to truly change us to a city? If we change it to a city, then actually the individual identities of the towns becomes in my mind a bit less important. They need to form a complimentary relationship to the overall city; pick anywhere; pick Bristol, London, Leeds, Birmingham; they've all got strong market towns and communities, but collectively they operate as a city. That's what we need to deliver here.

Jonathan: Looking at the city centre, for a few years there's been a drive to call it the city centre because Hanley was the name used by a lot of people. So looking at the city centre, a number of high profile projects are either happening or being planned. We've had the new Tesco; the completion of the city centre ring road; the new fire station is nearly complete; as is the Mitchell Memorial Arts and youth centre. They're real successes. Work for the new bus station has also begun. However, the high profile East-West Precinct, Public Realm work and the Central Business District seem to be vital parts of a full jigsaw, where original budgets are being or likely to be cut back. What is your take on the city centre strategy, its importance and the effect you expect to see over the coming years?

John: There are a few points aren't there. I mean by design now Hanley needs to be our city centre. You know if you were starting from a blank piece of paper - would it be there - no probably not. To be perfectly honest you'd probably put it nearer to the D road and nearer to the rail links; but as they say in Stoke-on-Trent, it is where it is. That said, it's absolutely critical that we have a strong city centre that can attract disposable income and interest from communities within the city and surrounding the city.

If you think about it, what we've really got to do is capture some of the disposable income that currently goes down to Birmingham and up to Manchester. We need something here that is really exciting, that's vibrant that encourages people into the city centre. The concerted effort to have a combination of both high quality retail, high quality public realm; superior office accommodation in one place, makes a huge amount of sense. To ensure that we have got simple ingress and outgress; that we've got a good public network of transport in and out is all pivotally important.

I think to be fair to all the hard work of the previous organisation and NSRP, a lot of those are now starting to come through to fruition. All that you've said, in terms of the Central Business District, East-West Precinct, they're going ahead at full steam. There's great support and commitment from the private sector developers. There's massive enthusiasm from us as a local authority. They make huge sense. Financially, yes they're pretty challenging, but as I said before, if we want to become a little less risk adverse and we actually want to transform this city, we've got to step up to the plate and make these things happen; which is what we're doing our hardest to do right now.

Jonathan: Do you like to get involved in some of the detail of it, like which design of the bus station you'd prefer; or what you'd like to see happening in the Public Realm?

John: I didn't on those two because it becomes incredibly addictive and I don't profess to be a guru of architectural design. What I am really keen on is making sure that we get high quality facilities in the city. I'm much more interested in enabling that through a much more commercially sensitive approach to planning and development than perhaps we've had in the past.

Jonathan: What's your response to criticism of looking to build another shopping centre with the East-West Precinct when we're struggling to fill existing shops?