Plan to bring more events to Sheffield parks to earn income
More events could be held in Sheffield parks to help pay for the cost of their maintenance and upkeep.
Sheffield City Council’s parks and countryside team are working on a plan to see how extra income could help to cover the cost of running city parks, especially those that are owned by charitable trusts of which the council is sole trustee.
Many city green spaces were given to the people of Sheffield and are held in charitable trusts.
The council’s charity trustee sub-committee yesterday (January 20) discussed the idea while looking at the audited accounts being submitted to the Charity Commission for charity-owned parks.
Lisa Firth, council director of parks, leisure and libraries, said that the plan will consider how to increase the number of events held, while looking at the sustainability of parks.
She said: “A lot of Hillsborough Park has to be closed off for Tramlines. We don’t want to do that a lot and we don’t want to do that everywhere.
Wildlife
“It’s about getting the balance right and recognising that sustainability and some can sustain large-scale events better than others.”
She said that issues related to park infrastructure and wildlife also have to be considered as part of the plan.
Coun Kurtis Crossthorn said: “As a committee we need to understand how we can build on events and lean on the fact that they are charities and they have friends groups that love and care for those charities and get them involved in trying to work on events to get income to make this sustainable for the future.”
He added: “We can’t just build a massive car park and raise more money. Events will increase the respect and admiration for our parks as well.”
Committee chair Coun Richard Williams said that encouraging more events must not be at the detriment of either the parks or their users.
Income for the parks come from a range of sources. They include charges for big events such as Tramlines in Hillsborough Park and Weston Park May Fayre and smaller community events, weddings in the case of Weston Park, grants for upgrades and friends group fundraising.
Facilities such as cafes, children’s rides and ice cream vans all pay to use spaces in parks. Head of parks and countryside Ruth Bell said that the biggest earners are cafes and car parking.
Upkeep
The council charges the charitable trusts for park maintenance and improvements. The additional cost to the council of upkeep for the city’s charitable trust-held parks was £1.54m in 2024-25.
Ms Bell said that none of the charitable trust-owned parks currently earn enough income to be self-sustaining and all require extra spending from the council.
The committee approved the accounts for the following parks and open spaces, which have the highest income and need to be independently audited:
- Graves Park;
- Hillsborough Park;
- Norfolk Park;
- Weston Park;
- Firth Park;
- Endcliffe Park;
- Richmond Park;
- High Hazels Park;
- City Hall Gardens;
- Chelsea Park;
- Earl Marshal Recreation Ground;
- Glen Howe Park.
The annual accounts for six charities which have an income of less than £25,000 were not considered by the committee as they do not need to be submitted to the Charity Commission.
They are Ripon Street, Blacka Moor, Charnock Green Community Association, Phillimore Park, Sutherland Road and Wincobank.