“We have a city here know so well for its industrial past that is has a whole
area, the Potteries, named after it.

“The buildings, the factories, the terraced houses; they are the building
blocks of the city and represent the inheritance of the people who live and
work there, their parents, their grandparents.

“These are the cultural anchors which we need to hang on to whilst
regeneration takes place.

“Lose the factories, the civic buildings, the churches and the brick
terraces that make up our built environment and we jeopardise the survival
of the city itself.”

He added: “If you go around Stoke these days there is lots of bare land where
things have been demolished. I’ve no idea what it looks like in Helmand
Province but I get a feeling it would look a little like here.

“There is always this idea that we have got to demolish everything to put
things right. A blank canvas they call it. But I’d rather see people use the
buildings in regeneration and development.”

Stoke has, down the years, spawned and played host to the country’s biggest
pottery firms including Wedgwood and Royal Doulton. But the decline in the
manufacturing the 1980s and 1990s saw the city hit hard, with dozens of
factories, mines and steelworks closing and historic buildings left to fall
derelict. At its height, Stoke housed 2,000 bottle kilns and 200 factories.
Only around 30 factories now operate.

Emma Bridgewater has a factory in the city and Mr Rice has accused Stoke City
Council of overseeing “vacuous and flimsy reconstruction, misguided
development and unfocused planning” as it seeks to modernise.

He has written a book about the city’s architecture, called The Lost City of
Stoke, which was inspired by a visit to the Church of the Sacred Heart in
Tunstall in 2008.

He points to historic buildings such as the grade II-listed Burslem Methodist
Sunday School, which was mostly demolished in the 1980s following a fire,
but of which the grand colonnade entrance built in 1837 still stands.

He said: “It’s a great building, of cultural, historical and visual importance
to the city. But I fear it may be demolished to make way for whatever comes
next.”

Last week a panel of experts met for a public debate aimed at convincing local
agencies and developers to use existing buildings in future redevelopment
projects.

Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust, who spoke at the
debate, said: “I see what I see in so many cities -development that has
taken place for short term reasons without a coherent plan.”

Cllr Mervin Smith, Stoke-on-Trent City Council spokesman for city development,
said: “Serious regeneration of any city takes more than a couple of
years. We have seen this with Birmingham and Manchester for example.
Significant projects have already been delivered, such as the new
state-of-the-art Sixth Form College and the City Waterside development,
amongst others, with work due to start on the new bus station next year and
the East West precinct in 2012.

“We are indeed proud of our ceramics heritage which is evidenced by the
banners which decorate the Potteries Way, celebrating pride in our local
companies, the restoration of surviving bottle ovens and most importantly
the biennial celebrating Stoke-on-Trent as the world capital of excellence
in ceramics.

“The city council has worked closely with local ceramics businesses,
including Emma Bridgewater Ltd, and are disappointed at the attitude
expressed by Matthew Rice. He is perfectly entitled to his opinion, which we
respect but cannot agree with.”