Major mixed-use development shelved

Plans for a 435,000 sq ft mixed-use development in Stoke-on-Trent have been binned, a decade after a scheme was first mooted for the site.

Developer Realis has ended its ambitions for the Unity Walk scheme, which received planning approval in March 2017 and was set to be anchored by M&S and a 10-screen The Light Cinema.

Realis had first brought forward plans for the former East-West site in 2008, when the scheme was known as City Sentral, but that was scaled back after it failed to become viable.

A spokesperson for Realis Estates said: “Despite the vast amounts of time we have spent working on the scheme and our significant financial investment we have made the difficult decision not to progress with Unity Walk.

“Recent problems within the retail sector have been widely reported in the media and these, coupled with the uncertainty around Brexit, have led to a very challenging environment to bring forward developments of this nature anywhere in the UK.”

Realis said it is in “early discussions” with a potential purchaser but that it may break up the site and sell off the land in parcels.