Little Kelham Sheffield: Life on trendy estate where parking is 'minimised' by threat of £100 fine

A giant new estate in Sheffield is set to be a ‘car-free landscape’ where residents won’t be allowed to park outside their home - but one area already offers a glimpse of what it will be like.

Developer Citu wants to build 1,000 homes in Attercliffe, where cycling and walking are ‘prioritised’. A 400-space car park is planned but there will be ‘no parking spaces visible within the site’.

Sounds radical, but the firm’s Little Kelham development is said to be a forerunner for what will come - so The Star went to have a look.

This mini-estate is, as the name suggests, in Sheffield’s trendiest district of Kelham Island. 

But the contrast with the many other housing projects that have appeared in recent years is immediately obvious - there are no pavements. 

To enter, you turn off Green Lane on to a one-way road where the lack of separation between vehicles and people is disorientating - and should spark wariness in all but the maddest driver. If pedestrians aren’t in their place at the edge of the road they could be anywhere!

Little Kelham also bans on-street parking and signs from Sheffield’s notorious Vehicle Control Services warn of hefty fines.

Some homes have a garage and there is a car park with a communal garden on top - but spaces are an ‘optional extra’ costing £14,000.

The result is car-free streets which can be used for other things - such as taking your four-year-old daughter out cycling.

Isaac Fernandez said it was on their list of priorities when looking for a home. 

He added: "It makes the community stronger. If you buy a house with these characteristics your neighbours will be like you. I feel safe riding and playing because I know it’s only neighbours driving cars here."

Designer Paul Kemp, aged 46, said he was unable to afford a parking space when he moved in two years ago. And now he can, he is on a waiting list. Parking in the wider Kelham area is limited and he recently spent half-an-hour looking for a space, before ending up over the River Don in Neepsend.

"Charging £14,000 for parking spaces is not eco, it’s just if you can afford it," he said.

He added: "Little Kelham streets are pretty peaceful and it's surprising to go into a place like Domo restaurant and it's heaving inside."

We asked Citu what it meant by a 'car-free landscape' at Attercliffe Waterside and whether householders would be allowed to park outside homes to unload shopping, carry out maintenance or wash cars, and for how long. We also asked about disabled access and whether the rules would be waived for blue badge holders, and how the car-free principle would be policed.

The firm hopes to be granted planning permission for the first phase in December.