Residents say changes to the bus route in Hillsborough "make no sense"
"I feel very disregarded, to be quite honest. This is going to affect real people”
Hillsborough residents say proposed changes to their local bus route are “really unsafe” and “make no sense”.
Sheffield City Council is proposing to reroute service numbers 61, 62, 81 and 82.
Buses currently travel from the main part of Loxley New Road to Holme Lane.
But the council is proposing taking buses off the main part of Loxley New Road and onto a narrower spur road, which is next to the Malin Bridge tram stop.
A new bus stop would be placed directly outside residents' front doors.
Residents say rerouting the bus is not going to save any time because the spur road it would use, which is also called Loxley New Road, is a short street and buses would quickly re-join Holme Lane, where they already go.
Resident Leena Hiscock said: “Whoever made this proposal has not spent a single second standing on the street.
.png?trim=0,0,0,0&width=640&quality=65)
"It will be 30 seconds down our street, and then they will probably have to stop at the bottom of our road where the traffic lights are, which is sometimes red for five to six minutes at a time, depending on if there's a tram coming."
Another resident on the proposed new route, El Massey, said: "It feels like adding another thread into what is already a choke point would cause more congestion, not less."
Residents are also worried about privacy, fearing passengers on the top deck of buses will be able to peer into bedroom windows.
They are also concerned about noise pollution and exhaust fumes, "causing more health issues for the people on the street who already have health issues," said El.
Leena added: "The tram noise is enough. I feel like we suffer enough. I cannot even fathom putting buses on top of that.
"It’s not lost on me this is a very small street. Very few people live here. A lot of us are disabled or elderly. It's not a wealthy area and it just feels kind of cruel.
"I feel like they just assume that there's not enough of us to make a noise about it, not that they allowed us to make a noise about it."
El discovered the plans through a note delivered to their mum, who lives in another part of Hillsborough, and that no one on the street received anything from the council.
Leena said the wording of an online council survey, which asks: "Do you agree that buses should be quicker and more reliable?" was "manipulative".
Leena and El have measured the width of the spur road at three metres, which they say is the width of a bus with wing mirrors.
Leena said: “I really am not convinced the road is even wide enough."
They are both worried about residents' parked cars either getting damaged or having to be moved.
El said: "I don't think that we should be the expense of trying to make Holme Lane less congestion, when it's not going to affect it because the congestion is further down the road."
"It's baffling," Leena added. "I feel very disregarded, to be quite honest. This is going to affect real people.
"A lot of people on this road are also not in a financial position to just up and leave if they don't like it."
A spokesperson for Sheffield City Council said: "We are glad to see so many people engaging with this project and taking the time to share their views.
"We recognise that some residents have raised concerns about elements of the proposals we are currently consulting on in the Loxley New Road area.
"We want to remind everyone that these proposals are early stage, and are not finalised plans – we haven’t made any decisions at this point.
"The purpose of the consultation is to gather feedback from people who live, work and travel in the area to genuinely feed into the next stage of the project’s development.
"We would encourage anybody who has concerns, would like further information, or wishes to comment on the proposals to complete the consultation survey or contact the project team through the official consultation channels so we can fully consider their views as part of the process.
"Following the consultation, we will closely look at what people have told us so that we understand the impact of the proposals on the local community. We will also consider whether we need to make any changes to our initial proposals."
The consultation runs until November 4, 2026 and responses can be submitted here.