Former city centre library to be turned into flats

A former city centre library will be transformed into flats after a revised planning application was approved.

The old Hanley Library in Stoke-on-Trent will be converted into 89 flats, and will include a ground-floor gym and four retail units.

A previous planning application proposing 106 flats was refused by Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 2023 due to concerns including fire safety.

The authority's planning committee welcomed the revised proposal from Hanley Library Redevelopment Ltd and approved the application on Wednesday. Hanley Library, which dates back to 1970, has been closed since 2023 when services were moved to the nearby Two Smithfield building.

Philip Wootton, who was speaking on behalf of the applicants, told the committee the revamped building would pay tribute to the original design.

"The building isn't being lost – it's actually being saved and given a new life," he added.

He also said the fire safety regulations brought in after the Grenfell Tower fire required the removal of the existing façade.

The flats would be a mix of one and two bedrooms, with 10 of them falling below national minimum space standards.

Planning officers and committee members deemed this to be acceptable due to the shortfall only being one 1.1sqm and the presence of a communal space in the building.

Councillor Laura Carter said she did not think the library building was "particularly nice looking" when compared with other heritage sites in the city.

"If we don't do something with this building, it will be left empty and it could be like some of the buildings we have in Burslem where there have been fires," she added.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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