Blueprint for Sheffield neighbourhood lauded as 'the prettiest suburb in England' nearing end of seven year project

The BBEST - Broomhill, Broomfield, Endcliffe, Summerfield and Tapton - neighbourhood planning forum is a group of more than 200 local residents with a shared passion for their area.

They first got together around 2013 to begin mapping out where they want to see things like shops, houses and travel routes built in a district stretching from Ranmoor student village to Weston Park - an area lauded as 'the prettiest suburb in England' by the late poet Sir John Betjeman.

After some challenges, interesting discoveries and sacrificing a lot of free time, a referendum next year will, if successful, make their plan policy.

Professor Peter Marsh, who works at Sheffield University and has lived in the area for 40 years, is the chair of the forum who said the process has brought the community closer together, shone a light on the most historic local features and will in the long-term give residents more influence over future planning decisions.

He said: “A number of us saw the Localism Act 2011 as an opportunity to engage an interest we all have about our local community. One was that this area is quite historic, it has 63 listed buildings - some quite important.

“I think some of us felt it was an opportunity to build the community a bit and get to know people.

“We get a level of attendance at some of our meetings which the council would absolutely kill for at a planning meeting - about 60 people coming to talk about the area.

“We also thought it would be quite nice to engage with planning in a positive way, not just having to respond to things we don’t like.”

Kath O'Donovan, secretary of the group, who has lived in the area for 25 years, added: “There’s a unity about the area which is good to encourage and some of the people involved have been very keen to say it’s not about stopping innovation, it’s about making sure what changes people make fit in with the style and feel of the place."

The plan focuses on five main themes: enhancing green and open spaces, maintaining a sustainable and balanced community, boosting the retail centre of Broomhill, offering a better experience for walkers and cyclists, and preserving and enhancing the area’s character.

Professor Marsh said improving Broomhill Library was one of the big successes of the scheme so far and said: “One that has come up a lot and has been true from the start is people being very bothered about Broomhill library. Not just as a library, although that is certainly top of the list, but actually as a place people meet. It’s something in the plan we said we want to encourage as a community hub.

“I think that’s a win for us because it demonstrates it really is an important building and we now have quite a few grants to improve the garden, which is quite historic.”

The entire process of developing the plan was supposed to take around two years but they said due to delays with Sheffield Council's citywide local plan it has taken more than triple that time.

Ms O'Donovan said: "Young people have grown old while this process has gone on and some of the people who used to volunteer are just too old now.

“We thought we got there once before a couple of years ago but we can see the end now.”

Professor Marsh added: “It’s certainly made life much more difficult because the neighbourhood plan nests within the local plan.

“There’s been various points where we had an absolutely Alice in Wonderland situation where the planning authority said they didn’t think it would fit with the local plan and we need to make sure it does and we said 'well what local plan?’”

The group are currently awaiting feedback on their completed blueprint and then a date for a referendum will be set for residents to make the final decision on whether to put it in place, which is likely to be next year.

Professor Marsh said across the country hundreds have already taken place and in some cases the turnout has been 80 percent.

Although there are a few other areas of Sheffield which are developing neighbourhood plans, the city has not seen as much of a take up as others.

Professor Marsh said: “I think it’s a great shame Sheffield has, uniquely among the big cities, not seen neighbourhood planning as a positive advantage for the city - not least about social regeneration and community building.

“Some cities have really gone for it. I think it has been a force for helping people to be more understanding about both their area and their neighbours.”

One of the biggest challenges has been the voluntary nature of taking on such a task but developing something together with neighbours has brought them closer together.

Professor Marsh said: “It is expecting a lot of people, there’s a requirement on the local authority to assist and support this and that’s all it really says. So unless you get a lot of professional planning expertise coming in it’s tough to work it out for yourself and we certainly thought at some points we were going down avenues we thought were sensible which turned out wouldn’t fit the plan. So that’s been very difficult.

"It’s not all peace and love because some people think you should knock down all the trees and make a decent parking space and others are utterly opposed and that tension exists locally. But there are elements of people being forced to compromise together and work together over things they really know about - their local patch - which is great and a real plus."

To find out more about the details of the proposed plan, visit http://bbest.org.uk/

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