Please have some respect for estate

I wrote recently about the litter in Hartley Brook Road at Shiregreen.
LitterLitter
Litter

I wrote a similar letter a couple of years ago, which Coun Peter Price decided to reply to, as he has again.

Peter’s reply again quite rightly blames “irresponsible local residents”, and “cutbacks” for the mess.

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Peter then veers off into areas that had nothing to do with my letter.

Peter claims I made a personal attack on him.

All I did was politely ask if he could take a look at the area in question, then contact the appropriate department and maybe get something done about it.

I said that when trouble erupted about the litter in Page Hall being blamed on immigrants and became national news, the council quickly cleaned the area up. That’s not a personal attack on Peter. It’s a fact.

Peter then said that I implied that nothing had been invested in the Shiregreen estate.

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He listed new street lighting, the resurfacing of the B roads and pavements and the replacement of trees.

He said that if I did not think the trees needed doing then I should have tried to walk down the pavements on Fircroft Road and Avenue, where trees were also blocking the drains.

I never mentioned the resurfacing of the pavements or the new street lights.

I did say that The Star had done enough about felling trees and should again take up the question of our crumbling roads.

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I thought that was a fair point after The Star’s lengthy campaign about the felling of trees in leafy Ecclesall.

There had also been many letters in The Star over the state of Sheffield’s Roads. I never mentioned the felling of trees in Shiregreen, at all.

I said that I could not understand why Shiregreen’s B roads had been resurfaced first but not the main roads.

Peter said I should have attended the meetings before the work starting and I would have known what was the process was.

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He also admitted that the A roads have deteriorated far worse than many of those involved thought they would.

I would have thought that if you leave huge potholes in the roads they are going to fill with rainwater, snow and suffer from the effects of frost over a period of years. So, I am surprised that those involved were taken by surprise by the deterioration.

I was aware of the process because I spoke to the contractors about it, but I still cannot understand why the most used roads are left to crumble while the quieter roads are done.

Surely, you do an inspection and decide which roads need repairing as a priority.

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I would also imagine that you do a risk assessment of the roads and decide where the greatest risk is. Surely it’s the A roads full of potholes?

As for splitting up the resurfacing of the A and B roads, Peter states it would cause too much traffic disruption.

How they are going to resurface the A roads, next year, without causing the same amount of disruption?

Is all the traffic magically going to disappear for a couple of weeks while they are resurfaced, or are there going to be diversions?

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Why couldn’t they just have put the diversions in place three years ago and sorted out the A roads too?

Peter goes on at length about Shiregreen having had its verges re-laid, with parking bays, and wooden blocks put in place to stop parking on them. I mentioned churned-up verges in my area, but I never said ALL the verges in Shiregreen.

Those wooden blocks don’t stop people parking their nearside wheels on the verges.

Peter should take a walk along Hartley Brook Road and look at the state of some of the verges, and walk up Gregg House Road, where the verges outside the school look like they have been used in a ploughing match. Most is caused by illegal parking.

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Remember, these grass verges were dug up and reseeded, which cost money.

I also politely asked if Peter could have a word with the councillor for the Firth Park shopping centre, because the pavements on Bellhouse Road are dangerous, and just above the garage on Sicey Avenue the grassed area looks like a dumpit site.

I have lived on this estate for over 60 years. It was lovely when I was a kid, and in some parts still is. It’s a pity that later generations don’t have the same respect for the estate that some of us older folks do.

SC