22-acre Attercliffe Waterside plot in Sheffield nets nine bids

City council officials are whittling the list down and expect to announce a winner in July.

The plot spans the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal and is bounded by Worthing, Woodbourn, Staniforth and Attercliffe roads. It went on the market in March.

The decision will be closely scrutinsed by Attercliffe Action Group which is keen to see high quality projects in the area.

Co-founder David Slater said: “Attercliffe Waterside offers enormous potential – if the decision-makers in Sheffield get it right then the Attercliffe Gateway can once again be a vibrant community where people want to be.

“Who wouldn’t fancy living by the canal, being close to work and enjoying the abundance of leisure and retail experiences and green spaces within walking distance?

“Attercliffe deserves this kind of attention and it will be a place Sheffield can be proud of.”The site is next to a tram stop and close to Sheffield Arena and the emerging Olympic Legacy Park.

Sheffield Hallam University has a growing stake in the area. It owns the athletics track on Woodbourn Road, the English Institute of Sport, the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre and the under-construction National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering.

Mr Slater previously said he wanted to see homes for workers at the new developments including “university researchers and industrialists who don’t have to come across from the comforts of the west side of the city.”

He added: “Attercliffe needs someone to develop housing for owner-occupiers. But it should be sold with an agenda, not sold to the highest bidder.”

The land is owned by Labour-controlled Sheffield City Council, the Canal & River Trust and Norfolk Estates who teamed up to put the plot on the market.

James Lazarus, head of joint ventures on behalf of Canal & River Trust, said: “This is an example of the Trust using our landholding as a catalyst to bring forward transformational urban regeneration schemes that can encourage the use of waterways.”