Yesterday the Evening Sentinel reported that six high-flying project directors are to be appointed to lead the £2billion transformation of Stoke at a cost to the public purse of £500,000.

Once appointed the directors will oversee the following projects, the creation of a £120million Business District in Hanley, a £250million University Quarter in Stoke, a £42million plan to tackle long term unemployment across the city, creating opportunities for enterprise and innovation, a £256million East/West Precinct development in Hanley and the marketing and re-branding of the city.

Elected Mayor Mark Meredith promised the appointments would mean no more ‘false dawns’ in the process of regenerating a city that has been battered over the past decade by the decline of the pottery industry.

He told the Sentinel: ‘The purpose of these new appointments is to ensure that we hit every milestone for every stage of the regeneration strategy.’

There is no doubt, following a report written by Will Hutton of the Work Foundation earlier this year which criticized previous attempts to regenerate the city and claimed that it could take up to thirty years for Stoke to get back onto its feet, that something must be done to turn around the city’s failing fortunes.

Judging by the reader comments posted in the Sentinel the six new directors will have their work cut out convincing a sceptical public there really are going to be no more ‘false dawns.’

Many of the comments are critical of the salaries that are to be paid out to the six new directors, £85,000 per annum, at a time when many people are being forced to tighten their belts and one comment, made by an independent Councillor and not yet confirmed, claims the council has not been consulted over the planned new appointments.

The responses to the article and the silent majority of public opinion they represent prompt the question where does understandable caution over such a large capital expenditure end and outright cynicism begin?

If the city is to achieve the regeneration it so desperately needs drastic steps have to be taken and capable people have to be appointed to take charge of the process. It is the job of councillors and concerned citizens alike to monitor how the people appointed to these posts do their jobs, not to damn them as failures before they have even started work.