Consideration, communication and compromise are key to new normal says Sheffield expert

All would agree, after so many deaths and our ability to live, work and have decent leisure time restricted, post-lockdown should leave us in a better place.

However, if recent events are anything to go by, the new normal with require us to address the three Cs of consideration, communication and compromise.

The pandemic has acted as a catalyst for societal change in areas of social/economic environment and, not least, health inequalities.

Sheffield Council has widened some cycle lanes to promote active travel while there is less traffic on the roads during lockdown, such as on Shalesmoor. Picture: David Bocking

We have to have the realism that addressing the latter requires continued investment in our leisure facilities, not seeing them as a cost burden, but giving a real return on investment in much-needed and affordable health and wellbeing.

The loss of so many lives has heightened an even greater awareness of the need for better health and wellbeing.

We need to encourage more active travel – walking and cycling – but to create an infrastructure to do this has to balance consideration for all road users and have adequate consultation that is sensitive to each others’ needs to reach sensible compromises.

To achieve a sustainable solution we have to ensure the above process is robust and leaves a outcome most can embrace.

We also cannot accept the sacrifices made in the care-home sector without holding the government to deliver a long-term solution, strengthening the obvious links between social and NHS care.

Remote working has become a new normal, so reverting back to previous ways of working will require employers and employees to show consideration for back-to-work issues, requiring consultation and compromise.

The consequences of the pandemic are all too clear and the mental health and economic issues arising out of unemployment, lack of job opportunities and different ways of working will require innovative solutions as furlough ends.

Coronavirus has not gone away, so we will still need to be vigilant and maintain social distancing and personal hygiene.

If we do so, then we can all enjoy much-needed new freedoms and allow those thousands of cancer patients and the like to get the urgent treatment they deserve.

There will also have to be compromises too as we consult on the need for more housing, as well as the need as showing consideration for our proud heritage of green spaces.

There are no easy answers as we aspire for a better Sheffield, requiring us to be perhaps more innovative too in how we show consideration, effect consultation and facilitate compromises.