Sheffield city centre: Improvements to Chapel Walk welcomed by councillors

Improvements to the area around Fargate will be delivered with the help of funding from the government’s Future High Streets scheme.

Sheffield City Council’s finance committee agreed at its meeting yesterday (July 10) to award £250,000 from the Government funding pot to The Sheffield Church Burgesses Trust. This will go towards the costs of shop front improvements on Chapel Walk and internal access works and reconfiguration of vacant upper floors for new workspace.

A further £650,000 has been awarded to The Foundry Sheffield towards the costs of shop front improvements, internal ground floor access and changes to vacant upper floors at Victoria Hall.

In addition, £250,000 was agreed for the council to commission some works of public art for Chapel Walk. Another £90,000 will be used for small grants that will be made available through Renew Sheffield to assist new and small businesses with fit-out costs on occupying vacant properties.

Council principal development officer Matt Hayman said that the council won £15m in total to deliver the Future High Streets improvements to the Fargate and High Street area of the city centre. This includes the purchase of a building on Fargate to create a six-storey entertainment venue Event Central.

Public art

Mr Hayman said that a long-term operator for the venue will be announced in the next few weeks.

He said that the public art commissions would help to support existing businesses and help to attract inward investment. He added they could include new gates and fencing for the area at the back of Marks and Spencer, who have now closed their Chapel Walk entrance to the Fargate store.

Gates and fencing could also be designed for the entrance to Black Swan Walk on Fargate to improve the environment and deter anti-social behaviour that takes place there, he added.

Coun Mike Chaplin said: “It’s really encouraging to see some much-needed investment brought into Chapel Walk. I don’t think it’s any secret that the footfall and actual shopping in that area have been on the decline have been on the decline for several years.”

Coun Martin Phipps said: “As a City ward councillor it was something that we were quite passionate about, that Chapel Walk shouldn’t be forgotten by this.

“From recent times I can recall that the start of that decline was when there was so much scaffolding on Chapel Walk for years, something we were in contact with local businesses about as it really affected their trade.

Scaffolding problems

“With this development, it all sounds good, how are we going to manage the negative aspects of that for visitors?”

He said that what really hurt businesses was the scaffolding staying up over several Christmases, which is a vital part of the year for them, even helping some businesses to stay float.

Mr Hayman said that keeping disturbance to a minimum is an issue for the landowners who are doing the work but his team will hold discussions with them about that.

Coun Mary Lea said that it is quite a historic part of Sheffield and the women’s suffrage movement had a base in Chapel Walk. She said there had been attempts to get a plaque put up on the shop to commemorate this.

Coun Lea added: “When I first came to Sheffield it was a really unique little shopping parade and really nice to walk up and down and see a variety of shops. It would be good to see that coming back.”

Mr Hayman replied that one aim of the public art is commemorate some of that history.

In response to a question from Coun Ibby Ullah, he said that demand is strong for empty units.

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