Sheffield Council leader says “it’s time to talk city up” as new developments take shape

Coun Tom Hunt made the call at a meeting of Sheffield City Council (July 5), where his deputy Coun Fran Belbin urged councillors to “be Team Sheffield”.

LibDem councillors said they share the Labour leadership’s pride in the city but prefer to act as “critical friends” and Green members stressed the need for collaborative action on issues such as tackling racism and climate change.

Coun Hunt spoke about “hugely positive developments” such as the plan for the Cole Brothers store which will “breathe new life back into the much-loved building on Barkers Pool, the Heart of the City developments including the opening of Pounds Park, the significant progress at West Bar and plans for Castlegate”. He said that developers want to be part of the city.

Other schemes he listed included the £100 million investment in leisure and entertainment venues across the city at a time when they are closing elsewhere, a new low-carbon neighbourhood to be built at Attercliffe Waterside, Family Hubs that are one-stop shops to support children and young people and the city’s inclusion in Prince William’s Homewards project to reduce homelessness.

Coun Hunt referred to the prince’s recent visit to the Rise Up Youth project in Burngreave that was hosted by his colleague Coun Safiya Saeed.

He also mentioned the promotion of both Sheffield football teams.

‘Work collaboratively’

Coun Hunt proposed a motion to the meeting that he said is “reaffirming to serve the people of Sheffield, to work collaboratively and to focus on the people’s priorities, to provide help to people with the cost-of-living crisis, to fix our public transport, to secure new investment, create new jobs and grow our economy, to invest in our neighbourhoods, to tackle the climate emergency and to ensure that we do politics in an open and inclusive way”.

He added: “Sheffield is changing for the better, with support from our members from across this chamber it will continue to get better. It’s time to talk Sheffield up, not talk it down.”

Coun Belbin said that the Future Sheffield project referred in the motion is the council’s change programme: “It’s in the process of being designed in order to achieve culture change across the council, to improve our performance, to build and strengthen our connections to communities and our other partners and it will mean better outcomes for our citizens.”

She urged councillors to support the motion and “be Team Sheffield”.

LibDem leader Coun Shaffaq Mohammed said that the aim of his party’s amendment to the motion was to stress the need to continue to learn the lessons of the hard-hitting Lowcock Report into the city street trees scandal.

He said: “I and plenty of colleagues in this chamber during the tree issues remember what the problem was. It was that anyone that came in here and criticised was talking Sheffield down.”

‘Critical friend’

He told Coun Hunt that the way for the city to move forward is not to “stand on the sidelines and become a cheerleader but it’s actually your role and all of our roles to become a critical friend to our officers, to each other, to our partners and actually to challenge them to make sure that they make the right decisions for the city.”

Coun Mohammed questioned the choice of developers Urban Splash for the Cole Brothers development, saying: “It’s going to be over a quarter of a century before they finish Park Hill.” He said that the “lack of development up there” has cost the city money, including council housing income.

Coun Andrew Sangar, seconding the amendment, said: “Every one of the 84 of us loves Sheffield, that’s why we stand for election. It isn’t a monopoly of the Labour Party.”

He said that deciding on the future of the Central Library and Graves Art Gallery has been named as a top priority for the city since 1999: “Twenty-five years later, it’s still on the list. There’s lots more to do.

“We do need to work together. We need to find a way of challenging things, not having group think, listening to people, listening to the business community.”

Coun Sangar also stressed the challenges the city faces on hitting net zero climate targets by 2030 and being more inclusive of all the city’s diverse communities.

‘Learn lessons’

Coun Brian Holmshaw, putting forward a Green amendment, said: “As a city it’s what we do and not just what we say that matters.”

He compared the Labour motion to “motherhood and apple pie – it’s a bit impossible to disagree with”.

He stressed that the council should learn the lessons of the city’s Race Equality Commission report, listening to diverse communities and engaging them in co-production of events and activities.

He stressed the need for cross-party collaboration, saying that the Green Party had attempted that on a motion also agreed that reaffirmed the council’s commitment to Sheffield being a City of Sanctuary for refugees and asylum seekers.

Coun Holmshaw said that his group had sought to involve other political parties alongside campaign groups and migrants in putting together that motion, adding: “Co-production is a Green approach and it should be a Sheffield Council approach on all our committees.”

Coun Christine Gilligan Kubo, seconding the Green amendment, said: “I welcome Coun Hunt’s policy statement of vision for Sheffield.

“It’s something we all agree with and we all support but it’s also important to remember that we achieved this by working together in a cross-party system and this was brought about by It’s Our City.” She was referring to the successful campaign to hold a referendum that voted to end the cabinet system of council leadership.

She said there are challenging decisions to be made on achieving net zero goals that must involve the people of Sheffield in making them.

The motion was unanimously passed by councillors, including parts of both amendments.

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