Earlier this year local people had real concerns about proposals to allocate green field sites in the Crookes area for new housing. Two of the sites mentioned were Hadfield Reservoir (behind School Road) and Lydgate Reservoir (off Evelyn Road).
The council has now dropped plans to use the Hadfield site for new houses but the Lydgate site has not been ruled out and remains under consideration. Yorkshire Water has confirmed that they are “undertaking further investigations” at the Lydgate site.
However the council has said in a statement that “to provide advice on the archaeological value and ecological value of the site, an ecological assessment and a desk based archaeological assessment is being carried out.”
Although the council hasn’t made up its mind yet, ostensibly the usually purpose of investigations like these are to see whether a site is suitable for development.
Local residents are concerned at the prospect of losing yet another green and open space and worried about the possible knock-on effect new housing will have on traffic, road safety and local schools.
If you have anxieties regarding this or any other matters, please don’t hesitate to contact your local councillors Sylvia Anginotti, Geoff Smith and Rob Frost.
Interim Director of Community Services Jan Fitzgerald has indicated that some services could change due to the amount of money that needs to be saved.
She said: “Some of the savings will have to come from our library services. Whilst trying to protect frontline services, we cannot guarantee that they will be untouched given the scale of the savings which will be required.”
Bullet points from Crosspool Forum Open Meeting, 26 July 2012
25 Crosspool residents, Cllr Geoff Smith, and 7 members of the Forum Management Committee attended. A guest gave a presentations :.
Matters arising
from April meeting – none.
Police report
PCSOs Phil Whitaker & Tony Hizam. (for Louise);
Fire incident, Tapton School, caretakers’ lodge.
Watt Lane burglaries – thieves targeting houses with Audis & BMWs, to get the car keys.
Car air bag thefts (so the steering wheel is taken as well) – again same make of car. Residents are advised to cover the wheel with a disc lock. Available at cost from Ecclesfield Police Station (321 The Common, A6135) or motoring shops.
Tavern Garage complaints; the service station appears to be exceeding its working hours & overlapping the pavement & highway – dangerous equipment such as a hoist used too close to pedestrians. Cllr Smith will liaise with PC Atha & the Council about this.
Ongoing & new police ‘ops’ – Crosspool & Fulwood anti-burglary & car crime; and next week the start of a force-wide scrap metal collecting van operation.
Letter from Deputy PM Nick Clegg and responses
After a recent Meeting at Hallam Football Ground Ian Hague presented Mrr Clegg with some pertinent local questions. Emailed responses having been received, these are as follows:
Government policy on school catchment areas? Sadly the higher number of Lydgate Primary School catchment children this September than the places physically available has meant 48 children will not get their first choice. (In 2013 there appear to be far fewer children of this age range, but from ’14 on the problem may arise again).
Local roads – shocking state of; Cllr Smith said any immediate concerns (potholes etc.) are still to go to Streetforce.
The PFI Highways initiative will not start until later this year and will, after liaison with the utilities in any given area, be operationally-driven.
The first 5 years will cover bringing the Sheffield highways network up to standard; pavements, street lighting, road reconstruction & tree management etc., cost 2billion (£800million (Council) & £1.2 billion (Government), & be followed by continued maintenance throughout the remaining 20 years of the contract . Residents will be able to a certain extent suggest replacement trees for any removed as causing obstructions. We must accept this will be “incredibly disruptive” to the city.
Public Transport – getting people back on the buses! Some £56 million is going into local transport, & there will be new low-carbon buses – but not necessarily on the no. 51 route. In Oct the route will change slightly (avoiding Mappin St) & First Buses has pledged to have more buses & drivers available to match the timetable. It is known there are 6 Crookes buses, & 3 Fulwood ones, to every Crosspool/Lodge moor no. 51.
Historic buildings? Jeremy Hunt (Culture Secretary)replied to Mr Clegg & Cllr Rob Frost but just said although he has a duty to compile a list of buildings of special architectural or historical value, this did not necessarily prevent their alteration or demolition. ( There appears to be nothing more to be said about Moor View Farm, Manchester Rd, at the moment).
Monopolies Commission & a new Sainsbury’s at Broomhill? A question as raised as to why Sainsbury is apparently being granted permission to build another store here.
Vernon Tce bus shelter – as the site is too narrow this can never go ahead.
Councillors and SWCA report
Geoff Smith was asked to look into why Veolia will only accept card payments for the purchase of green waste bagsthis year.
The ‘20s Plenty’ scheme has decided to designate the ‘Steel Bank area (Crookes, Commonside, Walkley) for the signage to make it a 20 zone, though this may take a year to implement.
Events
Crosspool Festival Week – Rev France Eccleston said this had been very successful – & we had two dry weekends!- Some £1524 was raised for the Ryegate Child centre Fund. Residents were asked to contact the committee if they wish to help nest year – the Open Gardens scheme will need a new organizer.
The Summer Fayre; Ian Hague said thiswent well – £726 was made, all to go back to the community. The Union flags in the precinct have proved very popular – these were erected for the Jubilee and will stay up until the Olympics are over.
The Car Boot Sale was a wash-out this June, but it is hoped another can be held in September.
Disco – after the success of the Christmas one Ian is hoping to hold another.
Computer course; this has proved very popular again; Ian expects to hold more in Sep 2012 – names to him please. There will be a beginners’ course, advanced (internet) course, & possibly desk top publishing course.
Guest speaker
Kate Hill telling us about FunMeFit
Kate Hill gave a presentation about her website – FunMeFit – a portal for the whole of Sheffield to get active, & to share their activities on. She hopes to run a Fun Day on 16th Sep at Hallam Cricket Club to fund-raise for this.
AOB
The Crosspool bench (outside Guidos & by the bus shelter) is broken and badly needs repair; Tammy Barrass (SWCA) agreed to see if this could be done .
Manchester Rd roadworks (beyond Valleyside Garden Centre). There have been chicanes & traffic lights for some weeks.but work is due to end by October.
The next Open Meeting will be Thurs, 25th October 2012. 7pm, St Columba’s.
51 bus service: First has admitted that it falls short on punctuality
First, the operator of Crosspool’s main bus service, has admitted that the 51 falls short on punctuality at certain times of day.
The operator carried out a month-long review of the service and identified several issues that the timetable doesn’t adequately allow for.
In response, a more resilient new timetable is being designed and extra buses and drivers will be deployed to improve the service. These changes will be implemented from late October to coincide with any route changes arising from the current Sheffield Bus Partnership consultation.
If these changes don’t make a difference then Crookes ward Councillor Geoff Smith intends to hold a meeting with First to discuss the 51 bus service. In the meantime, he will be at the next Crosspool Forum Open Meeting on Thursday 26 July if anyone wants to make any comments.
Full information from First regarding the 51 bus service below:
We’ve just completed a month’s study of issues and factors affecting the punctuality of the 51. Inputs to this have been:
Satellite bus tracking data that records a time at every bus stop on every journey.
Observations of traffic and other delays.
Journey monitoring to simulate the passenger’s experience, i.e. waiting at bus stops, travel on buses at times of delay (identified from above).
Comments from bus drivers, passengers and supervisors.
The conclusion reached is that, yes, the service does fall short on punctuality at certain times of day. This review has perhaps been long overdue as for key periods during the day the timetable lacks the robustness to withstand the external forces exerted on it. Having said that the journey time within the timetable does expand and contract to reflect known delays but here are a few examples of issues that we don’t adequately allow for.
The start of the school day at Crosspool, the operation of the crossings and the characteristics of the school time bus journeys. That certain buses encounter large numbers of children travelling out from the City and then encounter similar numbers from Lodge Moor. So a delay to Lodge Moor through this, the school run traffic and the crossings and then the same on the way back.
Peak traffic around the hospitals and University remains at buoyant until 0930-1000 hours.
Similar characteristics exist at the end of the school day to those at the start but it’s perhaps more intense as there’s less of a stagger.
Crossing Brook Hill roundabout continues to be a source of significant delay particularly when travelling out from City. Traffic crossing the roundabout from right to left slows entering Upper Hanover Street and obstructs the exit from Broad Lane.
Traffic queues on Rockingham Street at peak times.
Difficulty negotiating Mappin Street due to parked vehicles.
You may have noticed that on the Sheffield Bus Partnership consultation there is a proposed route change to avoid Broad Lane.
So where do we go from here? Well, hopefully the above route change will be implemented, together with a new timetable that is presently being designed. The new timetable will be much more resilient, incorporating longer journey times to reflect delays and greater recovery time at Lodge Moor before departure on the next journey. More buses and drivers will be required to operate it but deployed to maintain the present level of service where we’re falling short.
I hope this is good news. The date of introduction is 28 October 2012 to coincide with the launch of the Sheffield Bus Partnership. Generally, during the summer period there is an improvement in punctuality anyway as school and university related traffic subsides.
The damaged manhole cover in the precinct is finally due to be repaired on Sunday
The damaged manhole cover in the middle of Crosspool precinct will finally be repaired on Sunday 24 June.
The manhole – also known as a Gatic box – is the property and responsibility of National Grid. A spokesperson explained the reason for the delay:
This is a bespoke box, which due to the chamber and apparatus contained beneath it, has to be manufactured accordingly to the size, content and road type. We apologise for the length of time and any inconvenience that this has caused.
Sheffield City Council was informed on 20 April about the damaged manhole and since then traffic cones and ‘keep left’ road signs have been placed to ensure the area is avoided by traffic and pedestrians.
Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg answered Crosspool residents’ concerns at a constituency question-and-answer session on Friday.
Over the course of an hour in Hallam FC’s Sandygate clubhouse, the Sheffield Hallam MP responded to queries regarding the economy, jobs, the High Speed 2 rail link, the Leveson inquiry and the PFI project to renew and maintain Sheffield’s roads.
Questions were also asked about specific Crosspool issues. After describing their experience of travelling on the 51 bus route, one resident asked: What are the government’s plans to encourage provincial commuters to move back to using public transport? Watch the video below to hear Nick Clegg’s response:
He also responded to queries regarding the government’s policy on catchment area placements being within walking distance of local schools. Listen to his answer below (audio only):
The subject of the lack of bus shelter at the Vernon Terrace bus stop was also raised. Although local councillors are continuing to look into this, the deputy prime minister promised to also take it up.
Local residents had been invited to the Q&A via a leaflet through their letter box.
Williamson Hardware in Broomhill: under threat from closure
Broomhill institution Williamson Hardware could be forced to move from its current location on Fulwood Road to make way for a Sainsbury’s supermarket.
The landlord of the building is attempting to conclude the tenancy and has applied for permission to modify the unit, including changing the use of the first floor from office to retail.
Williamson Hardware has been trading in Broomhill for 52 years. A Spar exists three doors down and a 24-hour Select and Save supermarket is located at the top of Glossop Road.
Crosspool residents can post their views on the proposals on the Sheffield City Council planning website. The application can be viewed online along with all the associated documents under planning reference 12/01352/FUL.
The information posted by Yorkshire Water’s Land Use Planning Manager on the consultation website reads:
I have now been informed by my operational colleagues that they are undertaking further investigations with regard to our distribution network in the area. Because of this I am not satisfied that there is in fact a “reasonable prospect” of the site coming forward within the plan period. I would therefore like to withdraw the site at least until our investigations are complete.
I am hopeful that we will have more certainty by the representations stage of the Publication Version and if in fact the site does prove to be surplus to operational use I will then ask for it to be included.
The site was one of 18 in Sheffield earmarked as part of a strategy to build 1,110 new homes.
On Thursday 19 January this year a local authority hygiene inspector called unannounced at Crosspool Fish Bar on Sandygate Road.
Posing as a customer, she bought some fish and chips and then identified herself to the proprietor and subsequently inspected the rest of the premises.
We’re pleased to report that Crosspool’s chippy was awarded the food standards agency’s highest Food Hygiene Rating of five stars by Sheffield City Council.
