High winds which blew down wall at Sheffield community centre 'have done us a favour'

But managers at Firvale Community Hub say the wind ‘did us a favour’ because the wall was due to come down anyway as part of plans to transform the little-used space and open it up to more people.

The wall at the corner of Popple Street and Hinde Street in Page Hall, was sent tumbling as gusts of more than 50mph buffeted Sheffield

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Thankfully no one was injured and a spokeswoman for the community centre said Sheffield Council had quickly sent someone to make the wall safe before it was demolished completely.

She told how plans were already being drawn up to replace the wall as part of a wider revamp of the centre’s rear yard, known as the Common Ground, and someone had actually been due to visit today to discuss the makeover.

"The wall was going to go anyway so you could say the wind did us a favour and moved things along a bit faster as we try to make the area more accessible,” she said.

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"We’re looking at opening up that area and putting a youth shelter there, and we’re glad the horrible wall's gone because it meant the space was shut off from the community. It was like a prison but now it looks so different.

"We want the community to use this space and we’d like to hear their ideas for what should be done with it.

"We get a lot of youths standing around on the streets and we think it would be helpful to have a youth shelter so the young people doing that can be in a safe space and cause less disturbance on the street.”

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A yellow weather warning for wind had been in place across Sheffield between Wednesday evening and yesterday afternoon.

The community centre’s managers have invited people to share their ideas about how to use the space by calling the centre on 0114 261 9130.

They said that plans would be put to residents before a final decision is made and work gets under way.