Biddulph Town Council has submitted plans for a new town square to replace a lawned area in from the town hall.

The idea is to create a space that can be more easily used for socialising and small-scale events, and it has been designed to incorporate elements of the area's heritage.

The plans show a charcoal grey feature band which runs through a red block paved area, and this is to represent the North Staffordshire mining seam that runs through Biddulph.

The seam will be lit up at night by low voltage lights, as will a series of ornamental trees which are included within the plans.

The council has been careful to keep existing parts of the town hall frontage that are symbolic of the area's history.

This includes the large mining wheel, which will be set further back, and heritage railing which will be refurbished.

The town's council's chief officer Sarah Haydon said: "We wanted to celebrate the history of mining in our town, more than I think it has been previously.

"The mining wheel is outside the front of the town hall, but there isn't really anything telling visitors what it's about.

"So we'll put an interpretation board next to it which will explain it to people, with some history about the mines that were near to us, so we can celebrate that.

"Planting will be easier for the Biddulph In Bloom team to manage, as it'll be in raised beds, and we've been very careful to keep elements of the current town hall frontage that people feel really positive about.

"For example, the railings that go around the grassed area at the moment will be relocated.

"They were done by a local ironmonger. They're absolutely lovely and the idea is to keep those but restore them because they're in need of a bit of TLC."

The application is due to be decided by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council's planning committee on Thursday (LDRS).

She said the town council has held ambitions to revamp the area for a while, and hopes that it will become a more useful space to help make the town centre more vibrant.

She said: "We are very conscious that shopping has changed nationally and the way we use our high streets has changed.

"So we want to create a more sociable space, a place for people to be, and we can have little pop-up events there.

"It makes the centre of the town a bit more like a town square, rather than being very linear which is how it is at the moment."

The council said it has discussed the plans with local groups before submitting them as a planning application, and has their backing for the scheme.

It's hoped government levelling up funding could be used alongside matched funding from the town council itself, but this means there isn't yet a date when work will get underway on the proposals.

The application is due to be decided by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council's planning committee on Thursday (13th July 2023).