‘It’s ridiculous for a football match’ – Anger and confusion over Hillsborough road closure plans

Sheffield Council last week announced plans to consult on the closure eight roads near the stadium on matchdays, with no waiting allowed on another five roads for 12 hours – between 10am and 10pm – on days when the ground is hosting events.

The move has left businesses and residents in the area angry over possible disruption to their livelihoods and daily lives, but there is also confusion, with some saying Sheffield Council are giving out mixed messages over the closures, and the cabinet member responsible for them has now said he disagrees with them.

The new Traffic Regulation Order or TRO would extend restrictions which was already in place after concerns were raised about about the separation of home and away fans after Wednesday games against Leeds United and Sheffield United last season.

Those changes are already having the effect of reducing footfall at the Leppings Lane end of the ground on matchdays, with some businesses saying they are losing hundreds of pounds a week as a result and fearing they could stand to lose even more if the consultation proposals go ahead.

And residents who live in the streets around the stadium say the new proposals will make it impossible for them to drive in or out of the area when Wednesday are at home, effectively making them ‘prisoners in their own homes’.

Now, people in the area have set up a petition that has already attracted dozens of signatures and there are also signs up in the windows of numerous residential houses in the area calling on the Council to abandon the idea.

One of the driving forces behind the campaign for a rethink is Tracey Lister, the owner and manager of Tracey’s Sandwich Bar on Leppings Lane.

She said: “When Sainbury’s opened that hit us but we have worked really hard to get back to where we were. But our takings are now down by half. If this carries on we will not be open soon.”

“We were thinking about doing a protest but we have been advised against it. But local residents are going to be stuck and will be prisoners in their own area. It is a massive issue for people.”

Tracey, who runs the shop with her daughter Jemma West, says the current disruption means it can now take her 40 minutes to get home to nearby Wisewood on matchdays, but that her daughter Jemma, who also works at the cafe and lives in Intake, finds getting home even more difficult.

Joanne Flynn, who runs the popular Four Lane Fisheries with her husband Jimmy, said she thought the new restrictions were ‘totally over the top’.

She said: “I can understand for the United and Leeds games but they didn’t have to go to such drastic lengths. Only 300 fans came for the Wigan game and one coach but we are £200 down on matchdays.”

And Abbie Armitage at The Barber Shop next door said if the situation continued she would be claiming against the council for loss of earnings.

She said: “I don’t know how the council can justify all this for a football match. It will mean a cut in my wages.”

“The more of us get together and tell them we can’t afford to lose this money the better - it is just not fair.”

While businesses are worried about the changes hitting their profits, residents are equally annoyed about the move getting in the way of their daily lives.

Resident Sheila Elliott, aged 87, said she had to get a police escort down Leppings Lane recently after coming home to find the road closed.

“I have lived in the area 61 years and have never had any trouble from the football before,” she said.

“It is ridiculous just for a football match. I have been in that stadium with 72,000 people swaying and singing my head off with no problems. Everyone is up in arms about it.”

And Julie Booth, of Shenstone Road, said she had no objection to the roads being closed for 30 minutes or so before games, but a three hour closure was completely unnecessary.

“It is unbelievable. All the businesses on this road will suffer and there are a lot of elderly people in this area who will be trapped in their houses.

“On Saturdays there are going to shut everything down from 12 ‘o’ clock. It’s crazy. There are a lot of angry people around here.”

Others in the area, however, are calling on the Council to clarify their plans and say they believe people may have misunderstood them.

One business owner, who asked to remain nameless, said he had been told some of the roads earmarked for closure would only be shut in an emergency, and that the 12 hour closure would not happen every game.

The Traffic Regulation Order proposed by Sheffield Council says the following roads would be closed on event days: Leppings Lane (closures are already in place here on match days); Penistone Road North, between Herries Road and Parkside Road; Catch Bar Lane; Leake Road, Farndale Road; Bickerton Road; Fielding Road; Vere Road.

There would also be no waiting between 10am and 10pm on these roads: Herries Road, Herries Road South, Rawson Spring Road, Rawson Spring Way; Parkside Road.

In addition, there would be no waiting ‘at any time’ on Clay Wheels Lane, to the north of the stadium, where a coach parking bay would operate on event days.

A letter sent to residents and businesses says the proposals will go ahead if no objections are received by the November 7 deadline, it adds, and should anyone object it will be up to the ‘cabinet member for highways’ to ‘decide how to proceed’.

Councillor Bob Johnson, cabinet Member for transport and development at Sheffield City Council, said: “As a council we have fulfilled our responsibilities, fully co-operating with recommendations that have come forward by the police with the Safety Advisory Group and we have tried to get everyone around the table to find compromises and practical solutions.

“But it now seems that measures such as South Yorkshire Police asking Stagecoach to withdraw the trams is meaning this situation is getting more and more hard to understand. It’s time to get back to the solutions as we see at grounds and derby matches across the country.

“My concern, particularly as a local councillor is that it is local residents in Hillsborough and Sheffield Wednesday football fans who are suffering and being put in the middle of all of this. None of this makes much sense to those residents and fans. This is impacting on local residents, with their roads cut off. If they shut down the trams people will just be left congregated outside the ground and around Hillsborough frustrated. It will make traffic worse.

“I am calling on sensible solutions to address those concerns to be put in place as soon as possible in a way that is done at football grounds throughout the country.”