Sheffield city centre road closures extended as residents demand more pedestrianisation

Sheffield Council has confirmed city centre road closures will be in place for the forseeable future as a residents group which aims to represent the views people living in the city centre called for them to be made permanent and extended.
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The Council is planning to temporarily close Pinstone Street to traffic, with footpaths widened between Cross Burgess Street and Furnival Gate. Upper Charles Street has been pedestrianised alongside part of Division Street from the Frog and Parrot pub to the Great Gatsby bar.

Changing Sheffield, the residents' association for the city centre, wants to see the changes made permanent and extended on Division Street to pedestrianise it between Carver Street and Barkers Pool. This, they say, would allow wider pavements and shops to expand into the road. There would also be space for Caffè Nero and 200 Degrees Coffee Shop to have outdoor seating.

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Under their proposals, the flow of traffic on Backfields, which is currently one-way, would be reversed to allow deliveries to Division Street shops and the Art House. This would involve making Division Street No Entry at Carver Street instead of at Backfields.

Brother and Sister Edward and Grace Daniel enjoying cycling down the middle of a car-free Division Street.Brother and Sister Edward and Grace Daniel enjoying cycling down the middle of a car-free Division Street.
Brother and Sister Edward and Grace Daniel enjoying cycling down the middle of a car-free Division Street.

Peter Sephton, the group’s chairman, said: “I can’t see any problems with doing any of that, it’s a really simple thing.”When the city centre gets back to normal it can be a bit of a race track on Division Street.”

Two Blue Badge spaces outside Café Nero would be removed under the groups proposals, but Peter pointed out there are eight other Blue Badge spaces on nearby Cambridge Street.

He added: “This is an opportunity to change the city centre in ways that will make it better for the future with less traffic and pollution. At the moment the air in the city centre is really clean and it would be nice to keep it like this.

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“There’s never a shortage of parking so it’s not going to affect parking spaces.”

Changing Sheffield is made up of a 10-person committee who all live in the city centre, with several hundred people on their mailing list. Peter said the group aims to represent the views of around 22,000 people who live in the centre of Sheffield. He has contacted an artist to draw up plans of how the street could look.

On the plans, Councillor Bob Johnson, cabinet member for transport and sustainability at Sheffield City Council, said: “There’s things in there that I might want to look at. It has to be part of a wider picture.”

Cllr Johnson said he hoped Pinstone Street would be closed to traffic by next weekend but admitted the closure could be delayed by one week. He confirmed road closures in the city centre will be in place “until we start moving out of lockdown.”

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He added: “I might like to make them permanent, particularly Division Street depending on feedback.”

Cllr Johnson said he would need to consider how traffic changes would affect some of the main roads into the city centre, such as Pinstone street, and public transport routes.

He added: “Until that closure is implemented [Pinstone Street] I won’t know what kind of effect it’s going to have.”