Crosspool News – crosspool.info
The Crosspool community website run by Crosspool Forum
Crosspool residents can have their Christmas tree shredded free this Sunday morning, 6 January.
You can bring your Christmas tree to precinct between 10am and 12 noon where a tree surgeon will be on hand to shred it.
Valleyside Garden Centre is also offering to collect and recycle your Christmas tree over the weekend of 15 and 16 January for £3. Contact them on 0114 230 1925 for more information.
The Christmas trees and lights above the Crosspool shops are due to come down on Sunday.
The Friends of Bole Hills are looking for anyone with an interest in the Crookes park to get involved with their group.
Contact Liz on friendsofthebolehills@yahoo.co.uk or 07734 801082 for more information.
Their provisional 2013 meeting dates are:
The usual meeting venue is the Bowling Pavillion in the Bole Hills Park, starting at 7pm.
Have you noticed the influx of waxwings in the area? This great photo from by Kim Redgrave shows a pair of them eating berries from rowan trees on Tapton playing field last weekend.
Sheffield Bird Study Group explained that Crosspool usually attracts waxwings due to the large amount of rowen berries on Manchester Road. Photographer Kim also suggested that the berries in Scandanavia may have failed because of weather so they’ve come further south this year.
The RSPB estimates on their website that the number of individual waxwing birds usually present in the UK between October and March could be as low as 100.
However, this ITV News report says that over 2,000 of the birds have arrived from Scandinavia this month.
Rivelin Valley Conservation Group is the focus of this documentary from Russell Cavanagh. Watch it to find out more about the group, the history of Rivelin Valley and the work they do.
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.
Contact details for Crookes ward councillors
Hillside Harvest is running an open day on Saturday 23 June and a volunteer day on Saturday 14 July.
More information is available on the Hillside Harvest website and Facebook page.
A Crosspool school is asking dog owners to keep their dogs on leads while they’re on the school site between 8am and 5pm and also think about where their dogs leave their waste.
In recent incidents at King Edward VII middle school on Darwin Lane, teaching staff have experienced dogs running at students and exploring the school’s all-weather pitch during PE lessons.
The school’s Education Manager Laura Drabble commented: “I appreciate that these dogs may only be friendly but to a student who is afraid of dogs this can be quite upsetting.”
Reminding dog owners to think about where they deposit dog waste, Laura explained: “Students have been complaining of dog mess in the bins they use for their litter. In warm weather the smell is very unpleasant. Dog walkers should also only use the red dog bins for their dog mess. We would also respectfully ask that owners do not let their dogs urinate up railings and posts on the school site where students often sit and play.
“We don’t wish to upset residents but we do have a duty of care to our students.”
Two new planters will be installed at the former entrance to Crosspool Tavern on Manchester Road.
The location will allow for continued pedestrian access to the pelican crossing, the pub entrance and the pavement in front of the pub.
The tubs will be delivered with soil and planting already prepared and Crosspool Forum will take on their future maintenance. An exact date for their arrival has not yet been confirmed.
This former entrance to the Tavern’s car park was earmarked for landscaping as part of the S10 corridor scheme in 2005, although this has not yet happened. The two new floral tubs are expected to make access to the pelican crossing safer.
In 2010 and 2011 Crosspool received Sheffield in Bloom awards for the quality of our floral displays in the precinct.
Voyage into Britain is the topic for the next Rivelin Valley Conservation Group open meeting on Tuesday 13 March, where Mick Spick will be talking about canals.
Members of the public are invited. It starts at 7:30pm at Stephen Hill Church. There is a small charge for entrance fee and refreshments.
Sheffield council has outlined plans to build new homes on Lydgate Reservoir on Evelyn Road, Hadfield Service Reservoir in Crookes and Canterbury Crescent, Fulwood in order to meet government housing targets.
The Lydgate Reservoir land is located at the end of the Evelyn Road cul-de-sac. It is thought that once the reservoir has been decommissioned, Yorkshire Water will market the site after 2017 or 2022.
The council is asking for residents and businesses to comment on the potential new housing plans between 16 January and 27 February 2012.
A drop-in session with Area Planner Sarah Smith has been called at Stephen Hill Methodist Church for Thursday February 2, from 3-8pm. If you have any questions about the consultation, please telephone the Sheffield Development Framework Consultation team on 0114 205 3075.
More information about the plans and consultation
One Evelyn Road resident, David Smithson, said: “If this pleasant and quiet dead end were to be the sole access to this site, the prospects of an unacceptable increase in traffic and the resultant noise pollution would have detrimental consequence on me and my neighbours’ health and wellbeing. 20 dwellings would probably mean 30 or more cars added to usage of the road.”
The sites are three of 18 in Sheffield earmarked as part of a strategy to build 1,110 new homes.
