Focus on Gleadless Valley: The heart of the community

One of the main challenges for housing developers back in the 1960s was the hills in Gleadless Valley and they can still be problematic today.
Fantastic views but Gleadless Valley's hills cause problemsFantastic views but Gleadless Valley's hills cause problems
Fantastic views but Gleadless Valley's hills cause problems

Finding a central point for people to meet may be tricky, says Steve Rundell, chief executive of Reach South Sheffield.

Steve explained: “The library is used and we have a community centre. The Friends of the Valley group have an idea to develop a new community hub but the geography of the area means people at the top of the hill don’t travel and it’s quite difficult to get across the valley. There’s always a hill to climb.

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“There is the old Hemsworth School site which has been empty for more than 10 years and that would be ideal as a community hub for activities as it’s a very flat area. It could be a central focus for community groups and is something to aspire towards.

“We know the council couldn’t fund this in times of austerity but community organisations could aspire to achieve this.

“There’s a great deal that still needs to be done to raise aspirations in the community and that has not been addressed. We need to spend time looking at the community spirit and levels of confidence in the community. People are coming together more and doing something for themselves but we need that community pride.”