‘Brilliant’ independent charity to have new home in empty warehouse opposite Hillsborough Stadium

Sheffield City Council’s planning department has given permission for Support Dogs, a charity dedicated to increasing independence and quality of life for people with various medical conditions, to convert Elsworth House on Herries Road South into a new headquarters.

As the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported back in mid-July, the plans were submitted to renovate the building in order to provide the charity with “sufficient office space for administrative and fundraising staff with meetings rooms and a reception, storage for fundraising items for retail (purchased through the website), space for training for both clients and dogs, a base for the training team and space to help with fundraising”.

A report published ahead of the decision added that currently 20 dogs per year are trained and Support Dogs’ five-year plan is to increase this to around 50 dogs a year – and the dogs live with volunteers before they are ready to live with their clients.

There were 15 comments submitted on the planning portal in relation to the proposal and – perhaps for the first time in the history of planning permissions – all were in favour of the development.

People in support of the plans called Support Dogs “brilliant”, “wonderful” and “fantastic”, among others.