Council launches 'bright vision of future' for Sheffield City Centre

Leaders at Sheffield Council are painting a bright picture for the future, as the authority launched its vision for the city centre over the next ten years.
Coun Mazher Iqbal and Director of City Growth Edward Highfield launch the vision for Sheffield City Centre.Coun Mazher Iqbal and Director of City Growth Edward Highfield launch the vision for Sheffield City Centre.
Coun Mazher Iqbal and Director of City Growth Edward Highfield launch the vision for Sheffield City Centre.

Launching the city centre plan This Is Sheffield – which covers development in the city until 2028 – Councillor Mazher Iqbal, cabinet member for business and investment, said that in a decade, Sheffield will be “amazing”.

He said: ”We want to expand the city’s business districts towards the HS2 station and knowledge gateway, and grow the six emerging living communities mainly on the western side of the city centre.

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“We want to explore our heritage, history and ecology by uncovering our rivers and carrying out much-anticipated archaeological work.

“We are also confident that Heart Of The City II will give the people of Sheffield the high-end shopping, leisure and city centre living opportunities they deserve.

“We’ve also presented a vision for how a new HS2-station might look and how that might link to our other transport networks, helping to achieve our target of a zero carbon city by 2050.”

Following on from recent announcements about Heart Of The City II, the extension of Grey To Green into Castlegate and Lady’s Bridge and the development of a new £3m digital hub at Castle House, This is Sheffield shines a light on the bigger picture of city centre development, the authority said.

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It takes in plans by the city’s two universities, an initial sketch of how a new HS2 station link could help transform the Sheaf Valley, and significant changes to transport, including better walking, cycling and bus routes.

It also contains an action plan which sets out priorities and choices about how the council intends to deliver these plans and who will be responsible.

“There’s a lot of activity happening all over Sheffield and this is about bringing that jigsaw puzzle together, and it’s really important that Sheffielders have a look at these plans and tell us what they think,” Coun Iqbal said.

“In a decade Sheffield will be amazing, with the activity that we currently have and the jobs this will create; the regeneration it will bring to Sheffield will be unbelievable.

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“More people are saying that they want to live in the city centre, so we’re accommodating that. We want people to come and live and work and study in Sheffield.

“It puts us in a good place when we are looking for inwards investment, and the business community tells us that we need to be doing business from city centre to city centre.

“The digital and tech sector in Sheffield is growing quicker than the economy, so hopefully we have something for everyone here.

“It’s all about being authentic - we’re not picking up a brand from Manchester or Leeds here. We are authentic as a city centre ourselves.”

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A survey can be filled in online at www.sheffield.gov.uk/citycentreplan until June 17 and there will be public exhibitions held in the Winter Garden, from Monday May 21 to Thursday May 24, and the Moor Market from Friday May 25 until Tuesday May 29.