New road crossings, school repairs and tower block post-Grenfell fire safety work agreed by Sheffield Council

A meeting of the council’s finance committee on November 6 approved the updated spending plans by council committees. It also approved making a grant to a school academy trust for work to provide space for children with special educational needs.

An increased budget of £500k will be used to improve safety at four city tower blocks that have single staircases in the wake of the Grenfell fire disaster in London which killed 72 residents. The project has run over budget and will continue into 2024-5.

Works required to satisfy South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service at the Hanover House block off Exeter Drive will cost £175k of the total. Cladding has already been removed after Grenfell.

The committee agreed £95k for a pedestrian crossing at the junction of Psalter Lane and Osborne Road in Nether Edge, £198k for a crossing on Heavygate Road at the edge of the Crookes/Walkley active travel neighbourhood, £114k for a crossing point on Manor Lane Road, Manor Park and £121.4k for Herries Road, Hillsborough.

The budget for active travel plans to link Sheffield, Meadowhall and Rotherham has been increased by £695k. This project, using money from the government’s Transforming Cities Fund, will improve and create safer cycle and pedestrian routes with segregated lanes to connect Sheffield with Rotherham and the main areas of Tinsley and Meadowhall including the interchange.

Tapton School Academy Trust has been given a grant of £85.6k to help provide integrated provision for 16 special educational needs and disability (SEND) pupils at Hallam Primary School in Fulwood. The grant will pay for alterations to toilets and work to create an outdoor learning space.

Other school improvements include £570.9k funded by the Department for Education (DfE) to replace 320 square metres of steel windows at Limpsfield Junior School, Wincobank, that are in urgent need of repair.

Another £337.9k of DfE funding will pay for window and emergency door replacement at Mossbrook Special School in Norton. Work should be completed by the end of August 2024.

Spending on parks and play areas was also agreed. This includes £35k on works to provide new football pitches at Bents Green Playing Fields to replace those lost by the development of Mercia School. This would include car park improvements and demolishing and re-siting the pavilion.

At Graves Park, the Woodseats playground will be upgraded at a cost of £83.1k, which includes contributions from Veolia and the playground friends group.

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A report to the committee said: “The project will aim to upgrade and improve Woodseats Playground by replacing sections of old, cracked Tarmac with new, more inclusive, and accessible areas including a picnic area, young children’s nature and sensory area, and community garden.”

A budget of £46.7k will deliver improvements to footpaths in Ecclesfield Park.

A £120k grant from Sport England will be used at Parkwood Springs to help extend the mountain bike trail network and provide a refreshment kiosk and toilets.

The council also plans to spend £27.9k of government funding to install new energy-efficient LED light fittings in the Town Hall which will help cut carbon emissions.