Objections to Aldi retail development opposite Sheffield Wednesday football ground

Sheffield Council approved plans for a new Aldi to be built opposite the entrance to the Kop on Penistone Road in January 2020.

The £25 million scheme will include a Costa Coffee drive-thru, eight trade units for businesses, including a builders merchants, a vehicle repair garage and parking for 270 cars. It’s expected to create up to 250 new jobs.

Developers Jaguar Estates has revised the scheme but the Upper Don Trail Trust, Cycle Sheffield and Hillsborough Green Party say they have failed to deliver on an active travel plan.

Jaguar Estates says the development will be cycle friendly with good, safe access plus secure and well lit places to leave bikes.

The original planning approval required a travel plan that would “encourage and facilitate less car dependent living” but campaigners say developers have failed to deliver on this.

They say well-designed and segregated cycleways would improve the Penistone Road cycle route into the city centre and would link to a new section of the Upper Don Trail now being planned from Herries Road to Hillfoot.

They are also pressing for the restoration and public access to the historic waterway Wardsend Goyt and rundown woodland at the north end of the site.

Dexter Johnstone, of Cycle Sheffield, said: “Sheffield Council needs to ensure this development enhances rather than degrades cycling and walking provision in the area which is already patchy.

“They can do this easily by applying conditions which require the development to meet modern active travel standards.

“It is vital that all new developments in our city are designed to enable more people to travel actively.”

Simon Ogden, chairman of Upper Don Trail Trust, added: “We welcome the regeneration of this long derelict site but much has changed in the world over the last year.

“Developers need to adjust to the new normal of prioritising active travel such as walking and cycling. It’s no longer acceptable just to focus on car access.”

The revised application can be viewed here

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