A petition has been launched for the Stocksbridge Town Deal, accusing the Town Deal Board as a ‘runaway Board’.
The petition is calling the Council to act quickly by using its powers to “instigate a thorough review of the decisions taken by this runaway board before it is too late.”
The Stocksbridge Town Deal is part of the wider Towns Fund, a funding scheme launched by the Government in September 2019 to help towns across the UK. Sheffield City Council is the accountable body for the fund, with officers in the City Council offering advice to the Board.
Councillor Ben Miskell, the chair of the Transport, Regeneration and Climate Policy Committee said: “We have a strict set of criteria about how we oversee the Stocksbridge Town Deal.
“That’s something that we work with the Stocksbridge Town Deal Board on a monthly basis in order to make sure that we operate in a way that’s in line with the guidance set by the central government.”
The Stocksbridge Town Deal was first announced in 2019 as one of the 101 UK towns invited to bid for a share of the £3.6 billion government fund. It had successfully secured £24.1 million by the Government in 2023.
Campaigners are asking people to sign the petition to “rescue Stocksbridge regeneration projects,” claiming that “apart from some improvements in Oxley Park and possibly a new Hopper bus route, all the rest of the programme is therefore unfunded and on indefinite hold.”
Amanda Holmes, the communication officer of the Stocksbridge Town Deal, said the Board agreed to deliver the projects in two phases to ensure certainty on the priority projects in the town centre.
“This was discussed as a sensible and prudent strategy given inflationary pressures and uncertainty over costs.
“I don’t think it is correct to say the petition is calling for ‘rescuing Stocksbridge’.
“It is a petition from a group who are understandably disappointed that the Board has decided not to fund their particular project but rather to deliver the Trails Project in a more cost-effective way.”
Yuri Matischen, Co-Chair of the Stocksbridge Town Deal Board suggested that all Board members agree that a regenerated Manchester Road should come first.
“We make no apology for putting regeneration, jobs creation and new opportunities for our town at the front and centre of our priorities for Stocksbridge,” Ms Matischen said.
