Sheffield Castlegate plan gets go-ahead as objectors argue for better access to River Sheaf

Members of Sheffield City Council’s planning committee heard objections from representatives of the Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust, who are calling for easier access to the banks of the Sheaf in the plan.

The proposal agreed upon will combine creating a new green space on the site of the old Castle Market that will open up views of the Sheffield Castle ruins with surrounding building developments.

The rivers trust criticised the current scheme because the banks of the Sheaf would not be accessible with a wall and safety barrier blocking public access and making the river less visible. They have presented an alternative proposal which would see a sloping bank going down to the river, allowing people to walk alongside on a path it, open it up to wheelchair users and enable activities such as kayaking and paddle-boarding.

The trust also wants to see maximum deculverting of the Sheaf, which it says was the original aim of the Castlegate redevelopment. The Environment Agency has also objected that full deculverting will not take place from the outset.

‘Missed opportunity’

The agency also commented: “Currently the proposals/options submitted within the application indicate that the existing river wall will be retained on the left bank. We feel this is a significant missed opportunity.

“Where possible, we strongly recommend that the site layout is altered to incorporate a more natural (ideally re-graded) riverbank profile. Given the topography of the site and other constraints, a stepped bank profile may be necessary.

“One option would be to create a stepped profile as part of the public amenity space that allowed for inundation during peak flow events (examples of where similar schemes have successfully been delivered exist within south Yorkshire).

“Having a re-graded and ideally less hard-engineered riverbank profile would provide greater opportunity for more diverse in-channel, marginal and riparian habitat (including vegetation); whilst also providing greater opportunity for the public to connect with the river.”

Three rivers trust trustees spoke at the meeting. Viv Thom said the organisation welcomes many of the proposal’s good features but “we are disappointed that the current application only shows around 50 per cent of the Sheaf deculverted. We question this but we are willing to accept to completing it when funding bids are successful.

“However, we along with the Environment Agency and Sheffield Wildlife Trust and over 50 other objectors, feel passionately that the treatment of the uncovered Sheaf, while it may be compliant, fails to seize the opportunity to be truly transformative.”

Hidden underground

She added that the river is key to the city’s heritage and gave the city its name, which comes from Sheaf Field, but it remains hidden underground in much of the city centre.

She said: “Being able to actually see it, to walk by the River Sheaf and possibly get in it, it’s something we should be encouraging, but the current proposal for this site makes this impossible.”

Anthony Wood said he is a Castlegate resident and a guide to the hidden rivers in Sheffield culverts who has advised different teams working on the proposals. He said the plans, while welcome, fall short on biodiversity, public enjoyment, maintenance and public safety.

He said: “It has been claimed, without evidence or qualification, that retaining a high wall and railing is a safety feature discouraging casual access to the culverts.

“However, I think it is the opposite and people can and do already access these culverts from upstream and in reality the most dangerous thing about the Sheaf culvert is there is no safe way out other than downstream of the train station.”

He said an accessible river bank would remove that hazard and make rescues easier. Without it, he does not believe that volunteers can help to maintain the river as reaching the bank would mean climbing down ladders.

Blue spaces

Speaking about the health benefits of people being able to enjoy ‘blue spaces’ (being near water), he added: “In the post-Covid era it seems outrageous not to take better advantage of the green and blue space for the residents of the city of Sheffield who are woefully under-catered for.”

Former city council head of regeneration Simon Ogden said he understood the urgency of getting plans moving because of looming government Levelling Up funding deadlines. However, work still to be done on the project means there is time to consider the rivers trust riverbank scheme which was designed by two former city council civil engineers.

A member of the design team said that they were continuing to talk to stakeholders to look at design elements of the scheme.

Cllr Tony Downing said: “I do have some sympathy with the objectors in this regard. I do think that it would be good if this could be achieved but I don’t know if that can be achieved or the financial implications of that.”

Cllr Peter Price asked: “What are we agreeing to today? Are we agreeing to a two-to-three-metre retaining wall or is that up for debate?

“It seems to me it would create far more trouble that, we’d have to have a fence at the top to stop people falling over it. It seems to me that we’ve got to get this right at the beginning.

City centrepiece

“This is a centrepiece in Sheffield that is going to be everybody’s eyes on it and I just think that if it can be possible to slope that down, as has been said by the speakers, it’ll be tremendously beneficial I think to the whole plan which I fully support.

“I don’t know if I agree to this as being asked, do I agree to the bloody wall, or is that going to be allowed to be flexible at some stage where the alternatives can be considered as is being suggested.”

Councillors unanimously agreed to approve the planning application. Details of the proposals will have to come back to the committee for approval.

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