Here is the story in the Sentinel about the ‘Chatterley Whitfield Vision’, created in partnership with Historic England, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Chatterley Whitfield Friends and me.
A big, bold and ambitious future for this sleeping giant, but in which we must also be realistic in our expectations regarding the pace change will come.
I want to thank Cllr Dave Evans in particular. When I first came to Stoke-on-Trent, Dave spoke passionately about his hopes the site can be saved.
Dave has generations of family members who worked at Chatterley Whitfield, tragically some losing their lives underground.
He has been relentless in pushing for more to be done locally with the Council and nationally from government.
Thank you Dave for teaching me about the site, for showing me what potential it had. As I promised you and the Friends of Chatterley Whitfield, we will get a plan and then I’ll make plenty of noise down in Westminster about it!
This colliery is not just incredibly important to our local history, but our national history too. We should and are immensely proud and thank all those who worked underground throughout the years the site was operational.