Immediately to the west of the junction lies the former Newport House site. As the gateway to Burslem Port it is an obvious candidate for a leisure development such as a pub. It's position on the junction would lend itself to an outdoor seated area similar to the popular area fronting the canal and marina at Festival Park.
Detailed description
The site has varied levels with the section nearest to the Trent & Mersey Canal being very close to water level, rising to the north. The current scrap metal/car breaking business is low intensity, not occupying the whole site and could easily be relocated. At present the site does not present a very appealing outlook in any direction, so would not sustain any kind of leisure development until adjacent areas have been improved. The view across the Trent & Mersey Canal is to transport depot so ideally a leisure development would best be orientated to face the junction, Branch Canal and The Grange.
Immediately opposite the site on Newport Lane is the Grade II listed former calcining works. Various restoration schemes have been proposed but none has yet been progressed. If this were developed it would further enhance the area.
Landowners
St Modwen
Stakeholders
Landowner, Canal & River Trust, leisure visitors, boaters
Delivery
This is a commercial development, but if the other sections of the Burslem Port scheme are progressed to plan there should be no great difficulty in finding an interested party as waterside developments of this type are generally very successful.
