Sheffield businesses could be forced to build riverside path after public enquiry to decide 10-year dispute
“There are complex legal planning arguments concerning land adjacent to our site which relates to a proposed walkway dating back to 2014”
A decade-long dispute over whether two businesses must build a public riverside path could finally be decided after a public enquiry.
STEPS Rehabilitation and Gladman Retirement Living were hit with a council enforcement notice for the ‘non-provision of riverside walkway/cycleway’ behind their buildings on Troutbeck Road, Millhouses.
The authority claims the route was a condition of granting planning permission for the development in 2014.
Campaigners say it would form a key part of the River Sheaf Trail, a planned but incomplete route from the city centre to Millhouses Park.
STEPS and Gladman appealed to the Planning Inspectorate and a three-day public enquiry was held earlier this month.
Simon Ogden, chair of the Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust, said the enquiry had heard “very obscure legal gymnastics.”
He also said he was baffled by the “hostility to public benefit from two businesses you might expect to see the value of safe, public traffic-free walking, cycling and wheeling, access to public transport and shopping and contact with nature for at least their own clients, residents and staff.”
Gladman Retirement Living uses the trading name Adlington Retirement Living. Its Troutbeck Road development is called Jacobs Gate.
Gladman said: “This is a complex planning matter which has been considered as part of a recent planning enquiry.
“As the enquiry has not yet concluded and the inspector’s decision is awaited, we do not believe it would be appropriate to comment further at this time.”
STEPS said in a statement: “At STEPS Rehabilitation, we care for people in the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Every one of our patients arrive having survived a life-changing injury such as a brain, spinal cord, or traumatic amputee injury - most transferred directly from hospital, many unable to walk, all facing a future they never expected.
“What happens within our walls is remarkable. Through world-leading, specialist neuro and complex trauma rehabilitation, we help people take their first unaided steps, relearn basic skills, and rebuild the confidence and independence that injury took from them.
“This is painstaking, deeply personal work, and the progress our clients make - often against long odds - is the reason we exist.
“There are complex legal planning arguments concerning land adjacent to our site which relates to a proposed walkway dating back to 2014 – predating when we began to build in 2016. We have always engaged appropriately through the proper channels to resolve them.
“Our focus remains on the wellbeing and recovery of the patients in our care, and on the exceptional work our clinical teams do every day to help them rebuild their lives.”
The Planning Inspectorate is due to announce a decision within two weeks, The Star understands.