New Sheffield Local Plan aims to balance affordable housing with protection of green spaces
Sheffield residents are being invited to share their views on proposed changes to the city’s long-term development strategy as part of a new public consultation.
The consultation focuses on modifications to the Sheffield Local Plan, which will guide how the city grows and develops over the next thirteen years.
The Plan sets out where new homes, businesses and infrastructure could be built and aims to shape Sheffield’s development up to 2039.
Councillor Tom Hunt, Leader of Sheffield City Council, said: “Sheffield needs a Local Plan because we are a growing city.
“The Plan has a clear focus on developing brownfield land that has already previously been built on.”
A Local Plan, including site allocations, has not been adopted in Sheffield since 1998, which has made it difficult for the council to shape development to fit the city’s needs.
The council is currently asking residents, businesses and community groups to provide feedback on the proposed changes before the consultation period closes on April 14.
One of the Plan’s top priorities is affordable housing, in order to maximise the number of homes across Sheffield, some of which will be built on Green Belt land.
The planning policies aim to protect green spaces across the city and encourage sustainable development to reduce carbon emissions.
Councillor Douglas Johnson of the Sheffield Green Party has spoken out about the Local Plan, regarding housing and potential environmental factors.
He stated: “Although there is a need for more housing, the term ‘affordable’ doesn’t necessarily mean housing that people can afford, it’s just a term that developers use.
“What we really need, and what the Greens campaign for, is housing that people can genuinely afford and this often means social rented housing, such as the council or a housing association.”
With growing environmental concerns surrounding the planning development on the Green Belt, independent government inspectors have stated that approximately only 3.5% of the area would be used.
Cllr Johnson added: “As Greens, we oppose most building in the Green belt, but if the Plan was rejected, it would lead to even more building in Sheffield's undeveloped land.
“Without a new Local Plan, ultimately the government could step in and set its own plan, which would be much worse for the city.”
Student postpones charity cycle after death of childhood friend
A Sheffield student has made the difficult decision to postpone their charity bike ride through Wales after the "shocking" death of his close friend on Snowdon last month.
Ted Derisley, 19, from Norfolk, was gearing up to try and raise £1,000 for mental health charity, Andy's Man Club, on a ride that would see him embark on a 400km route from Holyhead to Cardiff.
However, Ted sadly chose to postpone the ride after the tragic passing of his close friend, Eddie Hill, who was one of the two young men who died after getting caught in bad weather on Snowdon last month.
This was a key part of the route Ted was planning on taking which involved cycling over mountains, through valleys and across coastlines.
Ted, a first year Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Sheffield, said: "This has been a shocking and difficult situation to navigate."
"Alongside postponement due to safety concerns in the higher elevation, there is also the grieving process."
But Ted stressed the ride will definitely go ahead in the summer with better weather and preparation.
Ted's mum, Joanne Derisley, a psychologist, said her son has been cycling "from the moment he could walk."
Ted said: "When I was around 8-10 years old, I competitively raced around the Lotus test track in Norfolk, and I loved the thrill of racing and the community around it. Back then I cycled on a very retro Peugeot road bike."
This isn't the first time he has done a long ride either, after doing a tandem cycle with his friend Dom across the Norfolk coastline before also going on a 150-mile ride with his dad in North Norfolk last year.
The challenge, known as Lôn Las Cymru, will be Ted's toughest yet. He has been training hard, including going on solo rides, or rides with his friend Eduardo, of up to 110km, even getting up before sunrise on Boxing Day to get in the extra mileage.
"I have felt my overall fitness improve and my confidence in the challenge grow, as I do admit that I was slightly delusional at the start, and remain so!"
Ted will be raising money for Andy's Man Club, a UK men's suicide prevention charity whose aim is to end the stigma surrounding men's mental health through the power of conversation.
Ted argued that choosing this charity made a lot of sense for him and credits his mum for helping him make the decision.
"Because my mum is a psychologist, mental health has always been an open topic in my family home and is very important when dealing with challenging points in my life.
"I ended up settling on Andy's Man Club because I could see how men around me who were struggling didn't have a safe space to open up and talk about their problems without judgement. Andy's Man Club provides this network for men and creates an opportunity to open up these vital conversations."
The tragic passing of his close friend has only reaffirmed how important the charity is and how it is the right charity for his challenge.
"It has had an impact on my mental health, but I have felt that talking to the people around me has brought me closer to the meaning behind the challenge and what Andy's Man Club is passionate about."
To donate to Teds cause visit: Ted Derisley is fundraising for ANDYSMANCLUB
“This will help engineer some kind of curiosity”: Sheffield becomes second city to host pop-up planetarium
A planetarium is bringing space to the town centre as it begins its run in Sheffield.
According to its website, Planetarium Go aims to "make astronomy accessible, exciting, and deeply inspiring—sparking curiosity about our planet and the cosmos beyond".
Attendees can choose from a variety of films accessible to all ages, and can sit back and relax in a deck chair as they stare up at the virtual stars.
Planetarium Go started in Spain, before coming to Battersea Power Station in February this year, and plans to visit Hull and Manchester next.
Kelseii Brown, an employee at the planetarium, said: "No matter if you are a kid or an adult you can actually learn something from this.
"There was a long time where space kind of got a little bit less prioritised - now I think it's time to bring it back.
"Stuff like this will help engineer some kind of curiosity for the final frontier. Once we understand space we understand why we are here.
"Our curiosity for the stars - for space - helped us in science, it helped us in general relativity."
One viewer, who attended with his grandchildren, said: "I was thinking about the children, and that the language was going to be hard.
"He's taken in a lot more than I feared."
Planetarium Go! shows a variety of films on the wonders of space
Geoff Charlton, secretary of the Sheffield Astronomical Society, believes that educating people on the wonders of space can help give us better perspective on our problems.
"Everyone has got lots of problems and lots of issues, and you look up and you think 'well, really? does it really matter?'
"You look up at the skies and you see what is going on and you think 'well maybe for a few minutes my problems don't really matter'.
"It makes me feel insignificant."
Mr Charlton works with organisations like Cubs and Brownies to educate people about space, hoping to inspire children by showing them the true scale of things.
He said: "We've had a few members who have come and then gone on to do astrophysics.
"One of the biggest things missing in the world is curiosity. The planetarium is a nice visual way to stimulate curiosity."
Planetarium Go will be in Fargate in Sheffield town centre until the 28th of March.
Pull up a chair at the Sheffield event tackling the loneliness epidemic
Another Sheffield location has joined a national initiative aiming to bring people together in locations across the UK.
Empty Chairs is a community-led campaign working to connect people with others who live and work in their area.
Data from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, found that 7% of people in England (nearly 4 million people) experienced chronic loneliness in 2023/4, meaning they felt lonely often or all the time.
This has risen from 6% in 2020, which indicates there has not yet been a return to pre-pandemic levels.
Hosts book a small table in a local pub and leave a few chairs empty, open for anyone who wants company to sit down and join them in a no-pressure environment.
Across the country, people are hosting their own events, which are catalogued on the Empty Chairs website.
Sheffield has hosted a number of these events, mainly in Woodseats, but the campaign stretches across the country, and even internationally, with past events in Canada and Belgium.
Joe Robbins, 29, pictured above (right), hosted his own event at the Old Grindstone pub in Crookes on Saturday evening.
He said: "Everyone is so separate after Covid and in the online age, that it's really important to bring people together."
Mr Robbins was inspired to run his own event after benefiting from visiting one elsewhere in the city.
He chose to settle in Sheffield after completing his Master's degree in Biomedical Science at Sheffield Hallam University.
But, with his coursemates returning to their homes elsewhere in the country after graduation, Mr Robbins found himself wanting to build up more connections with people in the area.
He walked 50 minutes across the city to attend an Empty Chairs event from another local host, and enjoyed it so much that he decided to set up his own a bit closer to home.
He said: "I felt so accepted that I had to set one up myself.
"I thought, what have I got to lose."
Mr Robbins advertised the event on Facebook, and successfully hosted a small group meet-up.
One of the attendees said: "I thought, I'm in town, I'll pop over, say hello, have a chat with people, and make some friends."
Events are open to anyone, and usually see a range of ages and genders in attendance, Mr Robbins explained.
He enjoys the fact that there's no expectation to perform a certain way at these events, as the website reiterates, there's no pressure, no agenda, and no expectation to stay longer than you want.
Find out more about the Empty Chairs initiative and how to get involved, here.
For support with loneliness, see NHS advice here.
South Yorkshire Mayor unveils sculpture commemorating Sheffield FC’s history
In celebration of Sheffield's rich football history, a Sheffield-born artist's sculpture was revealed on Friday near the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield City Centre.
The 'Heads or Tails' sculpture commemorates the first and only coin toss to decide an FA Cup game on 30 October 1873.
It was commissioned by Sheffield Home of Football (SHOF), a charity which seeks to safeguard Sheffield's football heritage.
The sculpture tells the story of the only FA cup match won on the toss of a coin, in which Sheffield FC, the world's oldest football team, beat Shropshire Wanderers in their first-ever entry to the competition in October 1873.
The unveiling was attended by South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard and Lord Mayor of Sheffield Safiya Saeed-Berberawi, both of whom said a few words to honour the occasion.
"I'm really pleased that as a city we are increasingly owning that story," said Mr Coppard. "Sheffield all too often does not shout about itself. We haven't done for far too long."
The sculptor, David Westby, also attended the event and paid tribute to his brother, the late Martin Westby, one of the founders of SHOF and a renowned football historian.
Mr Westby said the sculpting "wasn’t a textbook process" and joked about how football had both united and divided his family throughout his life.
The unveiling comes as SHOF look to secure UNESCO status for Sheffield's unique football history.
At the event, Mr Coppard showed his support for the bid and said he would be writing to the UN in favour of it.
Former BBC journalist and Media Officer for SHOF, Andy Kershaw, said: "Manchester may have the national football museum, but the world football museum is going to be in Sheffield."
The bolstering of Sheffield's footballing history was a theme throughout the day.
Dr John Wilson, a trustee of SHOF, said: "Football is about sharing, it’s about enjoying, it’s more than a game. It’s art, it’s community, it’s culture."
Ms Saeed-Berberawi added: "We must take this message further than today."
Oliver Coppard to reveal transport vision for South Yorkshire
A new transport plan is being revealed at Sheffield City Hall today by the South Yorkshire Mayor.
Oliver Coppard will reveal the Transport Vision for South Yorkshire, focusing on transport and active travel across the region.
Starting at 11:00 today, the conference is being pitched as a “landmark moment,” and is open to members of the public.
This comes following national wins for South Yorkshire transport, such as the recent central government investment of £33 million into zero-emission buses for Sheffield and South Yorkshire.
The Mayor has also secured support for the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport, and brought Supertram back under public control.
Sheffield Wire will be reporting live on this event, throughout the day.
Today on Sheffield Wire!
Good morning and welcome to the Sheffield Wire coverage for Monday 16 March, 2026.
Our top stories today:
- Oliver Coppard is set to announce a new transport plan for South Yorkshire in City Hall today at 11am.
- A grave from the 18th Century has been uncovered at St John the Baptist's Church in Penistone after it was hidden under another gravestone many years ago.
- MP's have launched an inquiry into student loans after young people have voiced concerns about hefty repayments.
The “most fly-tipped streets in Sheffield”, or the least protected by the Council?
Three quiet streets in Burngreave, North Sheffield, converge onto a small park. Here, lying just above the city centre in front of rows of houses, children ride bicycles with their friends, families talk with neighbours on front-door steps, and elderly couples walk hand-in-hand to and from local shops. But even on bright days like this, people avoid the park.
A Sheffield Wire reporter visited the area. The park is inhabited by piles of discarded, fly-tipped rubbish occupying lay-bys, bushes, and trees.
Coated in litter at its clearest points and mounded with features of black plastic and brown cardboard at its worst - the area is often bustling with people, but their shared community park is a persistent eye-sore; day and night the area is open to exploitation by criminals using the parkland as their personal dumping ground.
If there was a camera, a big camera, they wouldn’t come. My phone camera does not stop them for long.
Opposite the brand new NHS Spital Lane Health Centre, people living on the streets on the southern tip of Burngreave are reported in the media as being part of the “most targeted streets” for fly-tipping.
Reported by the Sheffield Star, through their 2024 Freedom of Information request to the Sheffield City Council, the individual fly-tipping statistics for these streets were revealed for 2024:
- Verdon Street, Burngreave: 90 fly-tipping incidents in 2024.
- Spital Lane, Burngreave: 102 fly-tipping incidents in 2024.
- Brunswick Road, Burngreave: 147 fly-tipping incidents in 2024 - the highest of any street in Sheffield.
While helpful in highlighting Sheffield's most exploited streets, the Star’s article - screenshotting streets from Google Street View - puts an incorrect face to the crimes being committed.
Giving the impression it is the streets themselves, and the people on them, who are breaking Sheffield’s fly-tipping records, is not the correct picture.
Only when walking the streets is it realised the residents are the ones suffering.
As seen by our reporter, the sections of the streets used by residents - the paths, pavements, and roadways - were clean; likely a coordinated effort between the Council and residents. Bin bags tied to street fences, likely put up by the Sheffield City Council, were all full and being used. People were not seen littering and excessive rubbish was not seen on the roads - these were ordinary streets.
What was seen, however, were people avoiding the park at the end of their road.
Ali
Across the park, amongst a growing pillar of smoke, a man was seen hunched over a small fire.
Likely one of the few people to still use and enjoy the park despite its condition, Ali, who has lived on Verdon Street for two years, spoke about living with the rubbish-filled park at the end of his street.
Looking out across the view of the city from his seat on the edge of the parkland, he said: “I come here on Sundays to sit and look at the view. Sometimes I make a barbeque; sometimes I burn the rubbish. I like to keep my area clean.”
He had just phoned his friend to come and join him.
“See that pile?” Pointing to the area across from him, “I will burn that next. It wasn’t there yesterday; I think they come in the night.” When asked how the rubbish is dumped, he said: “Look, there, there”, pointing to the white van parked on the opposite side of the park, “They always dump it there.” It was by the fly-tipped pile our reporter first found when arriving. He said it has always been like this for the two years he has lived on Verdon Street.
With no obvious signs of CCTV, or even posters or signs warning of punishment, the park - its sole purpose to unite the three streets together; a place for the residents to use and enjoy - unites them only under the same, subjugating title as Sheffield’s “most targeted streets”.
DEFRA
The more than a decade of fly-tipping in and around the park connecting these three streets is only likely to worsen. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)’s publishing of the ‘Fly-tipping statistics for England, 2024 to 2025’ on 25 February has revealed that, nationally, fly-tipping incidents have increased by 9% from 1.153 million in 2023/24, to 1.258 million in 2024/25. Meanwhile, the number of fines handed down from courts decreased by 9% from 1,378 in 2023/24 to 1,250 in 2024/25 - meaning merely 0.2% of fly-tipping incidents have resulted in court action.
| Enforcement Action Type | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | % Change | % of Total Actions (2024/25) |
| Investigations | 353,000 | 386,000 | +10% | 68% |
| Warning letters | — | 62,000 | — | 11% |
| Duty of care inspections | 27,000 | 29,000 | +9% | 5% |
| Statutory notices | 24,000 | 21,000 | −10% | 4% |
| Total enforcement actions | 530,000 | 572,000 | +8% | 100% |
In their report, DEFRA states: “Fly-tipping is a crime, a significant blight on local communities and a source of environmental harm. Local authorities have a duty to clear fly-tipped material from relevant land in their areas and consequently they deal with the vast majority of fly-tipping on public land.”
This is something we all know.
Something we should not ignore, however, is when the Council fulfils this “duty to clear fly-tipped material from relevant land in their area”, but does not effectively target, deter, and prevent the “significant blight on local communities” caused when areas are repeatedly used as fly-tipping hotspots - in the case of this south Burngreave park, for over a decade.
Considering their 2025-2026 Fly Tipping Reduction Strategy states "solutions" to the "most problematic sites" will have been produced by "Spring 25", this is an increasingly pertinent issue.
Abdullah
As Sheffield Wire prepared to leave, a man with a shopping bag stopped at the largest pile of fly-tipped rubbish; the one Ali had pointed to across the park - referenced as ‘A’ in the maps above and pictured at the start of the article and below.
The man threw his hands at it in a gesture of irritation and annoyance; our reporter stopped, walked over, and spoke to him.
Abdullah, who walks through the park often, revealed only last week he had stopped a van from dumping on this exact spot: “I had my camera, and went up to them to say 'look! Stop what you are doing!' - they drove off; nothing was dumped,” he said, “But now, look, it’s all here.”
When asked if he knew who had dumped it, Abdullah said: “They must come from a shop or something, far away from here. Maybe, look at it and there will be an address.” He turned over a cardboard box previously housing a TV, and a couple of black bags rattling as if they were filled with bottles or shards of glass.
There was no address; nothing to identify the perpetrator - it is likely the first thing the criminals with any experience in the crime remove before fly-tipping their waste.
Abdullah believes it is the fact there is no CCTV in the area that is causing the issue, he said: “If there was a camera, a big camera, they would not come.
"My phone camera does not stop them for long.”
This is not something difficult to imagine. There was not a single sign to deter fly-tipping or warn of prosecution in the park or on surrounding streets, and there was no obvious CCTV presence in the area to capture and record criminals in the fly-tipping act.
The Authority
To understand the Council’s position, their ‘Sheffield Fly Tipping Reduction Strategy 2025-2026’ includes details of educational and awareness plans to combat fly-tipping, the awareness they have for existing hotspots, and their deterrent and preventative tactics to address them:
- “Site specific target hardening solutions eg. fencing, CCTV, road closures etc to prevent incidents.”
- “Additional CCTV units were purchased to ensure where there were hotspots which would benefit from surveillance”
The strategy continues: "Sheffield city council has a small enforcement team of officers who investigate incidents of fly tipping. A large part of their work is reactive dealing with service requests from members of the public, internal and external partner agencies/departments. Our core approach when dealing with complaints is to identify if there is any evidence and then undertake a criminal investigation."
The glaring issue is: these hotspot tactics were not in place around Sheffield’s “most targeted streets”: not for Brunswick Road, Spital Lane, or Verdon Street. There was no fencing, no CCTV, and no road closures on any of these streets. The only work seen in the area was on the smaller, Handley Street, off Spital Lane, where a previous fly-tipping hotspot had been fenced off; pushing a new hotspot just under the fluorescent yellow warning signs posted on the plywood wall.
Neither here nor at any other of the fly-tipping sites was there evidence of these "additional CCTV units" - visible or sign-posted. Perhaps it has been decided that Sheffield's most fly-tipped street would not "benefit from surveillance"? If the small, reactive enforcement team are looking to conduct evidenced-based investigations into fly-tipping around the park area of Brunswick Road - where there is no clear CCTV coverage - it is no wonder that, nationally, the level of court action taken against fly-tipping incidents is at 0.2%.
Several Sheffield City Council representatives, including Councillor Safiya Saeed, the Sheffield Lord Mayor and a representative for Burngreave Ward, along with executives heading the Council’s environmental and development teams, were contacted for comment. The Council were asked for comment over their specific commitments to the streets of Spital Lane, Brunswick Road, and Verdon Street under the ‘Sheffield Fly Tipping Reduction Strategy 2025-2026’, and the comments received from residents regarding night-time fly-tipping and lack of CCTV coverage in the area were also put to them.
Sheffield Wire received response from Councillor Mark Rusling, who said: “A lot of work is going into the Burngreave area to clear up and prevent fly tipping.”
However, it is clear more will need to be said, and more will need to be done.
Reform in Sheffield: “Wading through concrete” or revolutionising local politics?
Marching up her driveway, leaflet in hand, a Sheffield woman became an unlikely internet sensation last week after footage from her Ring doorbell camera was shared online.
The focus of her fury was Matt Smith, vice chair of Reform UK Sheffield West, who had been canvassing in the area when the woman confronted him. Social media users were quick to herald her as a “legend”, while others lambasted the woman for still being in her dressing gown at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. But beyond the noise, the exchange appeared to reflect a wider tension within local politics, prompting observers to question whether, in challenging Mr Smith, the woman spoke for the rest of Sheffield, or not.
So just how popular is Reform with Sheffield residents?
Last year saw Sheffield appoint its first, and only, Reform councillor John Booker, after a snap election was called in Stocksbridge and Upper Don. Cllr Booker may have clinched the win by just 192 votes, but his success was viewed by many as a mere sign of things to come.
Buoyed by its victory in the north of the city, Reform will be targeting wards across Sheffield ahead of the City Council election in May. Laura Moynahan, Labour councillor for Manor Castle, worries that, as residents continue to grapple with a cost-of-living crisis, many of them are simply looking for someone to blame. “I think Reform is a real risk, we shouldn’t underestimate the threat they pose,” she says. “I’ve actually had people say about us building new houses in Manor: ‘Oh, you’re building those for the boat people.'"
Further east, Woodhouse is another area where a shift towards the far-right does not feel implausible. At the Sheffield City Council election in 2024, Reform candidate Andrew Hizzard lost out to the Liberal Democrats by just 10 votes - and a trip into Market Square suggests that a win for Reform is not out of the question.
Dave Franklin, a long-time resident of the area, reflects: “Woodhouse has been under a Labour council for years and it has just degenerated, it’s getting worse and worse. I’ve been listening to Reform more than anything.” Mr Franklin’s dissatisfaction, fuelled by fears around the recent influx in immigration, was shared by numerous other locals, including one Mervyn Greaves. “I’ll be honest with you: I like Nigel Farage,” says Mr Greaves. “Asylum is a fantastic thing, but it’s for people who do really need it.”
Other residents, however, appeared much more reticent to express their full-throated support for Reform. While Joanne Smith agreed that Labour had let the area down, she appeared unsure of the party’s central message. “I don’t really know what Reform’s policies are,” she says. “They just make a big thing about immigration and I don’t have any thoughts on it.” Richard Taylor, who has lived in Woodhouse for well over a decade, was quick to echo Ms Smith’s confusion. “All Reform keeps saying is ‘Deportation!’,” he says. “But they’re not saying what they’re going to do about education, housing, or potholes.”
A party plagued by controversy
Reform Sheffield East has been at the centre of significant controversy in recent months, after concerns regarding its candidate selection process led to four members being permanently expelled from the party. A report published by YorkshireLive in January of this year featured allegations that, when asked to role-play a gay couple attending a councillor’s surgery, one man kissed the head of a potential candidate. This is a claim that those expelled members have vehemently denied.
Among them was former chair of the branch Mark Harrop, who remains adamant that Reform failed to follow the proper disciplinary process. “We’ve been denied natural justice,” says Mr Harrop. “We don’t know the evidence that was presented, we’ve never seen it.”
More recently, Mr Hizzard, the previous Reform candidate for Woodhouse, announced that he had not been nominated to represent the party at the election in May. In a post published to Facebook last week, Mr Hizzard claimed that he had been “wronged by the party from a great height.” He complained of infighting within Reform and maintained that, in expelling its members, the Sheffield East branch had “thrown a whole year’s work down the drain.”
A spokesperson for Reform UK told YorkshireLive that, while the party does not comment on internal matters, it had followed the disciplinary process “to a tee”.
How might recent events affect Reform’s chances in May?
Mr Harrop was keen to reiterate that, while canvassing in Sheffield last year, both him and his colleagues received “mass support” from local residents. But, with Reform Sheffield East having come to blows so publicly, is it possible that the party could be losing its momentum?
Cllr Moynahan explains: “It’s a bit confusing because we don’t know who our Reform candidate in Manor Castle is. It seems to me that they’re all falling over one another about who can be more right-wing.” Mr Harrop, now a member of Restore Britain - the party set up by Rupert Lowe - is concerned that recent events will have a significant impact on voters’ confidence in Reform. “I think Reform has lost traction, they’re wading through concrete,” he says. “Within six months to a year, I think it’s going to start to go backwards.”
Speaking to residents in Woodhouse, it appears that Mr Harrop’s concerns are not unfounded. When asked about reports of infighting within the Reform party, Joanne Smith responds: “If they’re doing this now, how are they going to run the country?”
Despite various attempts to get in contact, Reform UK did not respond to Sheffield Wire's request for comment.
Sheffield litter pickers take on fly-tipping
A team of litter pickers have made a Sheffield neighbourhood "a nice place to live", amid national rises in fly-tipping.
Fly-tipping incidents dealt with by local authorities in England have increased by 9% from 2024 to 2025, according to national statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, published last week.
There were 1.26 million incidents in England from April 2024 to March 2025, 62% of these involved household waste.
Yet Blackstock Open Space, an ancient woodland in Gleadless Valley, has improved dramatically thanks to the work of Iren Wadsworth, 57, and others clearing litter from the area.
After seeing waste strewn in the woods while volunteering with Gleadless Valley Wildlife Trust in 2017, Iren started a litter picking group, just six months after moving to the area.
In the first few years she put a lot of time into advertising and getting corporate parties involved, and these groups would be able to remove four or five tonnes of waste at a time.
She said: “It was a lot of work, but I needed to do that to achieve what I wanted to achieve.”
At the beginning of 2024, Iren had gone over all the woods and brooks in the local area.
Rob Last, 64, lives locally and joined the local litter picking groups in lockdown. He said: “This whole place used to be covered in litter when we first started. We used to get round about 5000 bags of litter, it's now down to about 2000 a year.
“It's got a lot better and people are dropping a lot less stuff now.”
Iren said: “The woods were so depressingly bad that people said they didn't want to go there, it's not a pleasant experience. When we’ve cleared the sections round their houses they say thank you so much, now I feel comfortable and like it's a nice place to live. So that's what we’ve achieved."
“We’ve done the major work now. There's nowhere we've completely done because you don't know what's still underneath, but it's a lot better.”
In years of cleaning up other people’s litter, Iren still doesn’t understand why people fly-tip.
She said: “Criminal youth gangs will steal cars and joyride them and set them alight in the woods and that's their thrill.
“If people want to get rid of stuff, the woods are right by the houses, so they chuck it in the woods. Humans are lazy, they'll just do the quickest easiest thing. That's our nature."
She told Sheffield Wire that littering isn’t always intentional, as sometimes bins fall over, or maintenance teams don’t have the staff to clear heavily littered grassy spaces before mowing.
Rob also litter picks twice a week with Iren and Kev Walters, 54.
Rob said: “I haven't the foggiest idea why they do it. There's lots of mysteries. On the way here, I found a set of kitchenware, two boxing gloves, a shower curtain, it's all just totally random. What they’re doing there or how they came to be there, we have no idea what goes on at night in this valley.
“We don't hate these people, they have difficult lives. We work with the people here because we live here and we’re here all the time.
“Loads of people think you can come in and engage with the community but you can't. You just have to be here all the time because people won't trust you otherwise.”
Thanks to Iren, litter pickers, bags and gloves are now available in Sheffield libraries for free.
Doncaster Rovers fans encouraged to “get excited about it”, with a Wembley visit in their sights
A mouth-watering semi-final against Stockport County in the Vertu Trophy awaits the Rovers fans on Tuesday evening, with the reward of a Wembley final within touching distance.
Doncaster will be searching to regain their confidence after a 4-0 defeat to League One leaders Cardiff City on Saturday.
Assistant manager, Cliff Byrne, said: "We're disappointed with the result, the outcome of the game and elements of the performance which we'll look to put right as we go forward."
Grant McCann's Doncaster team are looking to make it to their first Wembley Stadium trip since the League One play-off final against Leeds United in 2008, where they were promoted to the Championship.
Speaking on fan excitement, Byrne said: "We'd encourage the fans to get excited about it and get right behind us on the night.
"Come out in your numbers because the support really does count, it really does make a difference in these cup games as we've seen in the previous rounds."
On the challenge the opponents will provide at the Eco-Power Stadium, Byrne said: "They have good depth to their squad."
In both league clashes between the two sides this season, Stockport have emerged victorious on both occasions, with Rovers' looking to upset the League One play-off challengers.
A penalty shootout victory over Huddersfield Town in the last round secured their semi-final status, as Rovers try to win the competition for a second time, following their success in the 2006-07 season.
The Vertu Trophy consists of 48 League One and League Two sides, alongside 16 Category One Academy teams, presenting a valuable opportunity for lower league teams to win silverware.
Luton Town or Northampton Town compete in the other semi-final tie on Wednesday.
The match will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Football.
Image courtesy of Doncaster Rovers.
Upcoming World Book Day: a “complete shock” for Sheffield parents
A magical day for a child but an extra expense for their parents. World Book Day is coming up, but this time it will be echoed by a worsening financial crisis.
The annual event this year will be held March 5 in every school around the country, to encourage children to read and be more interested in literature, all while they are dressed up as their favourite book characters.
But this day can put a strain and pressure on families, especially ones with multiple children.
To combat this, Sheffield is offering alternatives to buying a brand new costume. Many charity shops around the city, such as Marie Curie, are selling second hand costumes all year round, and schools are also coming together to offer parents cheaper and eco-friendly alternatives.
Will Oliphant is a dad-of-two, with one child in nursery school and another in primary.
He said his children always take part in world of book day, with past costumes ranging from the Gruffalo, to the golden ticket from Charlie and the chocolate factory. They usually buy new costumes or make them, but often his younger child wears his eldest's costume.
But this year their school is running a second hand costume sale for the first time, and the Oliphants are planning on attending. He said: “The aim is that you buy a second hand costume and that money goes to the school and it’s less waste in general.”
Michelle Rawlins' daughter Tilly, aged 10, goes to a different school that is running a clothes swap where parents can bring in old costumes and then other parents or the same parents can go and swap.
This year Tilly has decided to wear the same costume from last year to dress up as her favourite book character Hermione Granger.
Mrs Rawlins said: "It helps parents financially and stops this waste of clothing that might only be worn once, and it means children can share.”
Becky Vaughan has described World Book Day as a "complete shock", with two daughters in primary school, aged five and seven. While her eldest has settled on Grace from city of dragons after many ideas, her youngest has set her heart on a character from K-Pop Demon Hunters.
She said: "I feel like it comes as a complete shock every year. We all know it's the first week of March but it comes around so quickly and it's like "oh God it's world of book day this week, what are we doing?""
To help out parents, the school also gives children the option to come in their pyjamas and bring along their favourite book.
"It's quite a lot of pressure on parents. It can put a lot of strain, it's quite expensive sometimes as well."