Sheffield councillor says lockdown has thrown a spotlight on need for better housing in city

Coun Paul Wood, Cabinet member for neighbourhoods, says there needs to be improvements across the whole of Page Hall but housing in particular is crucial.

"We put a lot of resources into Page Hall prior to the pandemic," he said. "External toilets were capped to stop the rats problem, environmental health officers were involved in cleaning gardens, street wardens were out and we had put additional youth facilities in.

"We were going to open up discussions of how we develop the area when lockdown changed everything.

"I have a lot of sympathy for people who don't have the luxury of living in a nice house with a garden and they are in two up, two down with a tiny backyard. It has to be really hard to stay in these properties when temperatures are rising.

"I don't support it but I understand it, it's not a nice way to live. I don't think this is unique to Page Hall, it's the same problem with high rise flats and places like Tinsley and Darnall.

"We need to look at this area to see what we can do to improve the living conditions so they don't automatically see the street as the only place they can congregate.

"It opened up the whole question of what Page Hall should look like in 10 years' time. Prior to the Covid-19 situation we were making substantial progress, not everything we did worked but a lot of it did, but it's far more difficult to enforce a lot of things during a pandemic."

Coun Wood said there was no magic wand but substandard homes needed to be tackled.

"Increasing services in areas that have the biggest issues certainly helps in the short term but it's not the long term answer.

"We need to develop proposals that ensure over the coming years all areas have 21st century homes with all of the ecological, medical and educational needs and adequate green spaces."