Could historic buildings hold key to solving parking problem at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital?

The Norwood Grange buildings, on Longley Lane, and Goddard Hall, on Herries Road, are both Grade II-listed properties owned by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals which are lying disused.

The Hallamshire Historic Buildings Society (HHB) has called on the trust to sell the buildings so they can be converted into housing, with the profits put towards easing parking problems at the hospital.

But the trust says selling the properties would generate nowhere near the amount of cash needed for a multi-storey car park and it lacks the money needed to restore them.

HHB chairman Howard Greaves said: "The Norwood Grange buildings could easily be turned into around a dozen very desirable homes, which would fetch a decent sum.

"The hospital has no use for them and it seems a shame they're being left to fester.

"Parking at the hospital is a joke and everyone knows a multi-storey car park is sorely needed. Even if this only raised a small proportion of the money required it would surely be worth doing.

"Goddard Hall is another dreadful waste of the hospital's assets. It's been boarded up for as long as I can remember. Surely the hospital could convert it into offices or accommodation for nurses."

The Norwood Grange buildings consist of a cottage, barn, stables and coach house which were built in the mid 19th century for the Britannia metal magnate Thomas Fisher.

The L-shaped complex was bought by the council shortly before the Second World War, during which is was used as a base for firefighters and air raid wardens. The main house became a residential care home in the 1990s.

HHB successfully applied for those buildings to be listed by Historic England in 2015, along with the Chesterman House and Wycliffe House buildings, which also lie within the hospital grounds and are being converted into offices.

But the group failed to secure protected status for the Newton and Chambers water tower and the EW Mountford stable block, which the trust has since demolished.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, which applied unsuccessfully three years ago for permission to demolish Norwood Cottage, says the building's subsequent listing has reduced its market value.

It says it had looked in 2010 at selling a large plot of land including the cottage but it was valued at only £1 million - well short of the estimated £15m needed for a multi-storey car park.

As for Goddard Hall, the trust says a 'significant' sum would be required to restore the early 19th-century building and even then it would be too far from the main hospital facilities to be used for patient care.

Phil Brennan, the trust's director of estates, said: "We currently do not have any spare NHS funds to undertake the significant work on these buildings but if the Hallamshire Historic Buildings group would consider investing in these buildings we would be happy to talk to them."