Fargate: The three problems residents fear Fargate's revamp will leave Sheffield city centre facing

Over the last two years, construction workers have been carrying out a major programme of work to transform the street, with flower beds and high-tech bins now put in place.

The revamp of Fargate in Sheffield city centre began in early 2023 and was scheduled to conclude in autumn 2024 but due to several reasons – rising costs, inflation, weather conditions, just to name a few – the job is still not finished.

Residents have told The Star of their concerns over the scheme, as it takes shape - which include:

> Fears of flooded flower beds.

> Concerns over problems with advanced new bins.

> Worries over a lack of shops.

The Star asked visitors to Fargate for their views on the scheme as they walked along the famous pedestrianised street.

Laura McClure was concerned that the flowerbeds may be susceptible to flooding.

She said: “I like that they have put some flowers and greenery in, but we were just saying, it looks a bit deep though. If it rains any heavier you might end up with ponds. But I think it’s great that they’re started to do something with town and I hope it brings people in.”

Rob Mappin said he thinks the area is looking a lot better, and believes it will look nice.

But he said: “There a few things that seem a bit strange, like they should have have gone for more of the inner-city living.

“They should have gone for more of the Madrid option where they had the cafes and tables in the centre of Fargate, so, there was somewhere to sit instead of these rubbish dumps that they've created.”

He said he felt the bins were a silly idea, because they would have been expensive, and feels the there could be problems if the machine that is used to empty them breaks.

He said: “If it breaks, it just doesn't seem like money well spent. But other than that, it looks really nice.”

The bins are designed with a large storage area beneath them. The large underground storage containers are removed by a machine when they are full, so they do not have to be emptied as often, and they are intended to avoid overflowing bins.

Martin Smith said he thought Fargate was looking a lot cleaner and tidier and felt it had been a long time coming.

He added: “However, I feel that it needs a lot more shops, a lot more accessible shops, and it needs a lot more footfall on Fargate.

“It's nice making it all nice and acceptable and presentable, but unless it's going to get used, unless there's any high-quality shops on here, I don't see where it's going to go. It's just a thoroughfare at the moment and nothing more than that, really.”

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