Sheffield Council faced ‘unavoidable’ delays to street work due to Covid-19

It follows complaints about the state of city centre streets.

Councillor Mark Jones, cabinet member for street scene, said: “The way our city centre looks and is perceived is really important and we know good, safe and visually appealing surfaces contribute to the overall aesthetics of an area.

“This last year has been challenging for many and the impact was felt across all council services, including works on the highway. From attending sites safely to sourcing material from overseas, all our contractors faced new challenges as a result of Covid 19.

“However, we adapted to different ways of working and overcoming obstacles, which puts us and our contractors in a far better position going forwards.

“We know when people spot tarmac patches, they often don’t know what the work is related to or when it may be reinstated, but I’d like to reassure people if they spot works in progress or temporary tarmac patching, that we are working behind the scenes to restore these areas effectively and to their former condition.”

Pete Vickers, highways network manager, added: “Developments are happening continuously which comes hand in hand with connecting utilities, altering layouts and temporarily disturbing the surfacing, whether that’s tarmac, flag-stones or cobbles.

“There’s a vast amount of work that takes place both before, during and after areas are excavated and securing the correct materials for restoration, to ensure consistency, is a key component to achieving a suitable outcome. Digging up pavements is never something which is taken lightly, and our priority is always to return the area to its former state as quickly as possible, to ensure minimal disruption to city centre visitors.

“The Covid pandemic has had an unavoidable impact on the timescales for restorations to temporary tarmac patches on key city centre throughways, which are taking longer than we envisaged to rectify.

“However, we are doing all we can to move these works along, including working closely with all third-party contractors and utility companies to get things back on track.”