Tramlines: ‘Lessons have been learned’ about weather damage to Hillsborough Park Sheffield

Large areas of Hillsborough Park, the venue for the music festival’s main stages in July, are still closed to visitors while reseeding and ground repairs, paid for by Tramlines organisers, are being carried out. The venue was turned into a sea of mud by three days of heavy rainfall.

Coun Richard Williams, who chairs the council’s communities, parks and leisure policy committee, told a meeting (September 25): “I think that what comes out is that nobody was happy at all.

“Clearly the residents of Hillsborough weren’t happy, the Friends of Hillsborough Park weren’t happy, the officers weren’t happy, as councillors we weren’t happy and I’m sure Tramlines weren’t happy.

“What comes out of the report (to the committee) is that lessons have been learned and will continue to be learned and the single message, almost like a stick of rock, is that this can’t happen again. Those words have got to run right through that stick of rock.”

Councillors were told by Lisa Firth, director of parks, leisure and libraries: “We have given a commitment that this cannot happen again. We cannot allow this level of damage to the main field of Hillsborough Park in future.”

She gave the same commitment to the council’s economic development and skills policy committee earlier this month.

Ms Firth said that the first of a series of meetings with Tramlines bosses is scheduled for next week, when they will discuss how to ensure that the situation does not happen again. She said that ways of protecting the ground during similar bad weather are being looked into.

Other issues under discussion include managing similar large music events, such as the Arctic Monkeys concerts held in the park in June.

Ms Firth said: “If the weather had been the same at the beginning of June as it was during Tramlines, that would probably have prevented Tramlines happening and although we left what we thought was sufficient space between the events, six or seven weeks, we’ve seen from Tramlines this year that the ground would just not recover sufficiently during that time.”

She explained that the ground was covered but the damage took place when the ground underneath the covering became waterlogged and muddy.

Ironically, dry weather following Tramlines slowed down the growth of grass in the areas that were reseeded. The sheer level of increased watering that would have speeded up grass growth would have proved problematic, Ms Firth said.

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In response to questioning by Coun Marieanne Elliot, Ms Firth said that returfing the whole area had been considered.

She now feels that a mixture of reseeding and turfing around the edges of the area would have been a better solution than just reseeding.

Earlier in the meeting, questions submitted by members of the Friends of Hillsborough Park pointed out that much of the park has been unusable for the best part of three months. That has been widely criticised as park use was restricted during the summer holidays.

In written questions, the Friends asked if the council has set a level of damage that would result in Tramlines being cancelled in future. Coun Williams said there is no limit in place but a commitment has been given that the situation would not be repeated.