Hospice would be site's best use

It must have been a hive of activity as the hundreds of Council gardeners, park-keepers and apprentices went about their business. Government-forced reductions in Council funding and green space management changed that. Many of the big glasshouses have been demolished or are derelict.

I have had two interests in the above issue.

In December 1999, as Co-ordinator of Heeley City Farm, I was part of a consortium working to both promote local food growing and create sustainable jobs for adults with learning difficulties.

We put forward a visionary proposal to create an organic market garden and local food shop social enterprise on the site. Sadly this was vetoed by the Friends of Graves Park and rejected by the City Council.

Earlier this year a very close friend died of cancer. Before her death she had surveyed and visited several hospices in the region and concluded that St Lukes was the best to meet her needs. She consequently received excellent treatment and respite care at St Lukes several times.

St Lukes is currently situated in a residential area in Dore. Whenever I visited there were only a few cars in the very small visitor’s car park. However it was obvious that there was no room to expand the facilities in that area.

Graves Park is a lovely park, probably the best in the city. Norton Nurseries is an under-used site. Presumably Alderman Graves left the site to all the people of Sheffield.

In my opinion a well designed hospice building with beautifully landscaped gardens would be an appropriate use of the site and of great benefit to all the people of Sheffield.

John Le Corney, Heeley, Sheffield