Sheffield homes: Wickes store set to be turned into flats and 'loss of retail is acceptable'

The city centre branch of the DIY store, on Moore Street near The Moor, is earmarked as a ‘priority location’ for housing by Sheffield City Council. 

It is expected to deliver 364 flats, according to the Local Plan which aims to guide the future of the city up to 2039.

A planning appraisal states: “Given its position within a Flexible Use Zone, loss of the existing retail use is acceptable.”

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Staff at Wickes Central told The Star it will shut for good on August 16. Some have blamed the Clean Air Zone, introduced in February 2023, which charges older diesel vans and taxis £10-a-day to travel on, or within, the inner ring road. Older coaches, buses and lorries are charged £50.

The city council’s Local Plan states the Moorfoot area has the ‘potential to accommodate significant residential growth and become a new neighbourhood’.

It estimates 2,180 new flats could be created in the area, including 714 in the council’s Moorfoot offices.

In total, it hopes to create 18,465 ‘homes’ - most of which will be flats - in the central area between 2022 and 2039. And it anticipates an extra 35,000 people will live in the city centre.