Graves Park Sheffield: LibDem councillors join calls for Rose Garden Cafe to be saved

Graves Park Liberal Democrat councillors met council officers yesterday (August 3) to look into what is happening to the cafe.

There has been an outcry after a council report said that roof was unstable, leaving the future of both the building and cafe in doubt.

The Friends of Graves Park group have launched an online fundraiser at Just Giving for repairs that has raised more than £1,700 and a petition on the website change.org calling for the cafe to be saved has more than 5,000 signatures.

A public meeting has also been called in the Rose Garden tomorrow, August 5 at 6pm.

The LibDem ward councillors said they have agreed an action plan with the Friends group and are trying to establish a clear way forward.

‘Graves Park Café and Rose Garden is the heart of the park’

Coun Ian Auckland said: “For more than 20 years as a councillor, with the support of my Liberal Democrat colleagues and before that as chair of the Hands Off Graves Park committee, I have campaigned to protect every blade of grass in Graves Park.

“But for many the Graves Park Cafe and Rose Garden is the heart of the park, as it is for me.”

“Sadly, the cafe has been let down by the council’s Labour and Green leadership in recent years, with a refusal to appoint local councillors, (acting through Local Area Committees), as trustees and involving friends groups and other users in the management of the Graves Park Charity.

“We know that local people feel strongly about this wonderful establishment and we wish to see it preserved for them.”

He added: “We also want to see any proposals to save the cafe be as green as possible going forward, with possibilities like a ground source heat pump, a small wind turbine and solar panels options that could be installed to make the cafe environmentally friendly and sustainable going forward.

“Let’s get behind a plan to make the cafe as it stands fit for the next 100 years and the greenest park cafe in the country.”

‘It’s scandalous and we won’t let this lie’

Chair of the Save the Rose Garden Cafe Liz Hnat, who launched the online petition, said: “We’re angry that the council wants to close this much-loved and well-used community asset.

"They’ve made a huge leap of logic in deciding that it’s uneconomic to repair and say because it’s at the end of its useful life therefore it must close and be demolished.

"We don’t accept that and alternatives to closure must be examined. Generations of families have used this cafe and want it to stay open.

"The council has neglected its duty as the trustee of Graves Park in not lifting a finger towards repairs or maintenance during the 14 years the current sitting tenant has been in situ, despite receiving over £400,000 in rent and a share of his profits.

"It’s scandalous and we won’t let this lie until somebody is held to account and we prevent this from demolition.”

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