Plan to transform estate is approved

WORK to redevelop Sheffield's Park Hill estate could start within the month.

Plans to transform the estate into an attractive and desirable place to live were given the go-ahead by councillors, bringing to an end years of debate about whether the dilapidated 1950s complex should be restored or razed to the ground.

Sheffield Council's City Centre, South and East Planning and Highways Area Board heard the renovation plan described as "inspirational and visionary" and Park Hill as "like a prison".

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Simon Gawthorpe, from developers Urban Splash, told the meeting the scheme was "a project almost without precedent."

The meeting heard Urban Splash has been given the buildings and land on a 150-year lease - in return for spending around 130 million on their renovation.

Lib Dem councillors, who have been long-term critics of the scheme, expressed their disapproval.

Coun Alan Whitehouse said: "The thing is just dire, it is like a prison."

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