Local Elections 2023 - Sheffield Wire

Live: Latest updates from Sheffield & Barnsley Local Elections 2023

Inquiry sparks concern over Sheffield’s affordable housing backlog

12:07pm

An inquiry has sparked concerns over the need to 'significantly ramp up' the city's delivery of affordable housing, according to one council planner. Plans for a development of up to 300 homes that will include a mix of affordable housing and elderly persons accommodation, on the site of Hepworth's Refractory in Loxley Valley were rejected by Sheffield City Council last year but an inquiry to hear an appeal against the decision is now underway. However, the sessions have raised concerns over the amount of affordable housing available in Sheffield with developers arguing that the potential township could go a long way to solving this problem. According to data within a report compiled by the Strategic Planning Research Unit, it is suggested there is a "massive backlog of unmet needs for affordable housing and no supply remotely capable of meeting it". The report also states there has been a 7% drop in Council housing stock during the last decade, while over the same period there has been an increase of just 97 new homes a year compared to the target of 902. Roland Bolton of the Strategic Planning Research Unit said: "The position of 600 [new-builds], which is a very good year for Sheffield as its the highest completion rate its had for a good number of decades, is still under of half of what the demand would suggest. "[However], a lot of these are one and two bed apartments based in the city centre and are not suitable for families."

The proposed site location. Image Credit: streetmap.co.uk

The council claim they will address housing supply issues, upholding its pledge to make Sheffield the "fairest city in the UK". Laura Stephens, a planner at Sheffield City Council said: "We wouldn't dispute there is a need for affordable housing. "In response to the slow delivery of affordable housing, the council is seeking to significantly ramp up the delivery of affordable housing through additional borrowing on the housing revenue account." The council hope to add 1,000 new affordable homes by 2026 but this would not meet the target of 902 per year, as suggested by the Strategic Planning Research Unit.

Man, 32, stabbed in Sheffield named

10:13am

A man killed in Sheffield in the early hours of Saturday 17 April has been named as Daniel Irons. Emergency services were called to Fretson Green in the Manor area at 12.34 am after reports that the 32-year-old had been found seriously injured. Mr Irons had suffered a stab wound and was pronounced dead at the scene. A post mortem examination confirmed the injury as cause of death. A 28-year-old Sheffield man arrested on Saturday 17 April was released yesterday but remains under investigation. Det Ch Insp Mark Oughton, who is leading the investigation, said: “Our inquiry has progressed at pace over the weekend and I would firstly like to thank everyone who has come forward with information so far. “I continue to appeal to anyone who has information about what happened to Daniel to pass this on to us. If you were in the Fretson Green area between midnight and 1am on Saturday and think you saw something suspicious, please get in touch. Even the slightest bit of information could really help us progress our investigation.” “Uniformed officers will remain in the Manor area throughout the week, so please do approach them if you have any questions or concerns.” If you have any information, dash cam footage or CCTV, please report this by calling 101. If you do not wish to speak to police, you can stay completely anonymous by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. The incident number to quote is 29 of 17 April.

The Politics of Policing and the Power of Protest

5:00pm

Credit: Neill Brown Last night, a police van burned in Bristol as peaceful protest devolved into rioting, injuring several people. These events come barely a week after a series of passionate demonstrations held in parliament square, themselves sparked by the Metropolitan Police's widely condemned response to a candlelit vigil in Clapham Common. At the centre of this turbulence is the government’s new Policing Bill – but what exactly is it, and why has it provoked this response? On the face of it, the Policing Bill doesn't appear that controversial. It brings changes to time served before conditional release for serious crimes, and introduces harsher penalties sexual offenders. All of this seems eminently reasonable. But wait - there's more. The bill also includes measures that are a little more contentious - such as plans to impede peaceful protest with a maximum noise limit, and criminalising “serious annoyance” to the tune of 10 years in jail. Critics have not minced words, and the bill has been labelled an authoritarian attack on the fundamentals of our democracy. "It's pretty dreadful," said Jamie Sims, 26, who has spent 3 years as the communications officer for the Sheffield branch of ACORN community union. "Aside from anything else, it just seems very unnecessary." "I don't think the police should have any powers on protest, but they definitely don't need more. They do fine with what they've got." Jamie considers the bill a political measure, rather than something motivated by a genuine concern for public safety. "It seems like it's almost a response to Extinction Rebellion," he said. "But then, the stuff Extinction Rebellion did - supposedly, it was already illegal, because they were mass arrested." But it's not just legislative overkill. Jamie said the bill poses a threat to democracy via the limits it imposes on direct action - that is, the mode of politics which eschews parliamentary or electoral negotiations for more physical engagement with an issue, like strikes, sit-ins, or street blockades. "Direct action is really important. It's a way to even the power imbalance," he said.

Credit: ACORN Sheffield

Jamie discussed the rationale behind ACORN's own direct action: "The people we're targeting, they've got political power. They've got money. They can decide, 'we want to evict someone,' or the council can be like, 'no, we're not going to implement licensing for landlords,' or whatever. And then what we've got is people power - and the way that we express that superior strength in numbers is taking direct action." And this direct action has seen success. Recently, for example, a protest which obstructed the entrance to Sheffield town hall with complaints about "dodgy landlords" saw victory as the City Council agreed to ACORN's demands to expand landlord licensing. In fact, history is littered with examples of disruptive direct action where those lacking political power forced the hands of those who held it. The Suffragettes, who won women the right to vote in 1918, damaged property during their demonstrations (though Suffragette action could sometimes escalate into violence against people, too); some of the first minimum wage laws in the UK were brought about by strike action; the Conservative government's poll tax was abolished in 1990 after millions of people simply refused to pay it. Contemporary examples include last year's student action over unfair grading, where the government amended their scores after spirited marches on parliament. Extinction Rebellion's controversial street blockade in April 2019 quickly prompted the government to declare a climate emergency. The Policing Bill itself has been affected by direct action; following the furious backlash, its implementation has been delayed. It is exactly these kinds of protests that the Policing Bill seeks to subdue.

Credit: Extinction Rebellion Sheffield

"New ideas are formed, and new issues are forced, by disruption," said Nathan Strathdee, 21, a member of Extinction Rebellion Sheffield's media and messaging team. "It gets people's attention. It forces change." Unsurprisingly, Nathan is no fan of the Policing Bill. "It's a real threat to how a healthy democracy should work," he said. "Not just for BLM, not just for Extinction Rebellion, not just for the movement for gender equality we've seen since Sarah Everard's death." "Nonviolent direct action is key to democracy, and a way for people to take power for themselves, forcing government to take action on issues." So what happens when the government does outlaw peaceful protest? Dr Marina Pentoulis is the Associate Professor of Politics and Media at the University of East Anglia, and she believes that the events of last night in Bristol - denounced as "thuggery and disorder" by Home Secretary Priti Patel - gives us a sobering look at that eventuality. "This is the effect that a bill like that has," she said. "On the one hand, you have a party which says, 'law and order,' and that's why we need to police demonstration, and so on. But if people cannot demonstrate peacefully, and express their opinions, then it is as if you're saying to them; 'now, you have to go harder. Now, you have to riot. Now, you make violence, in order to register what you are doing.'" "This is the effect of very heavy-handed legislation that the government is trying to pass." If the reactions to the bill seem dire, Dr Prentoulis is even less favourable about its actual contents. "It is going against our human rights," she says of the bill's strict limitations. "A society where you cannot demonstrate is an authoritarian society. It's not a democratic society. It's not a pluralistic society." "There was quite a lot of disruption going on," she agrees, referring in particular to Extinction Rebellion. "But because of this disruption, it forced certain issues to the public imagination. Now, you could say, 'yeah, but you can do it without disruption!' Yes, you can. But then, if you don't attract media attention, people do not pay much attention." "The idea there was that we were talking about an emergency situation," she said. "You have to force it."

Caught Cold: Sheffield boxing’s body blow

4:21pm

Credit: Johann Walter Bantz Just over a year on from the last crowd-attended fight on British shores, grassroots and amateur boxing has had to come to terms with being the forgotten sport. In the week where two of Britain’s finest pugilistic exports of this century, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, sign one of the biggest contracts in boxing history, UK boxing finds itself floundering as financial pressures tighten and careers hang in the balance. The riches that the two will earn win, lose or draw are colossal and the fact that such an eye-watering prize purse is on offer underlines both the sport’s popularity and its financial power. This, however, is in stark contrast to the fortunes of community boxing clubs across the UK that are struggling to stay afloat, as well as fighters who have had to put their careers on hold. Indeed, despite being boxing's spiritual home, the Steel City's gyms and fighters have suffered just as much as the rest of the country and are burdened with the same worries as their counterparts in any other town or city. Sam Bridle, a young up-and-coming boxer and Glyn Rhodes, the owner of the Sheffield Boxing Centre open up about their struggle during the pandemic. A Career on Pause

Sam Bridle in training at 26RR gym in Sheffield.

"It's difficult, you just think what's actually the point at the moment" begins Sam Bridle, who who has had his career progression hamstrung by the pandemic and feels that he and his fellow fighters have been neglected. “We’ve had absolutely no support, no way of earning money because there’s been no sparring. “I really feel we’ve been thrown under the bus, massively, in the sense that we’ve just been forgotten about.” Back in November, the government issued a £300 million emergency relief fund for eleven UK sports which included rugby union and horse racing but not boxing. Bridle believes the sport has been overlooked. Speaking to the 22-year-old, you are struck by his desire to get back to the sport he so clearly loves but in the same breath there is an admirable pragmatism in his assessment of the situation. “In a way I am fortunate that I’m still young, I don’t have a family to feed but a lot of fighters around 26, 27 do. They’re the ones who are worst hit. “For us, the furlough scheme wasn’t even worth looking into because the payments would have been so small, but we could have done with something just to allow ourselves to keep focused on getting fit and not having to worry about money.” While money has certainly been a concern for Sam, it does not come close to the frustration and pain of having his career being so brutally stalled. Having been on the cusp of turning professional last February, his plans were put on hold after the government began to put in place restrictions over the following month. "It's been a hard year. "You want to be able to go, and just get all that [turning pro] sorted because it's quite a long process but it's constantly a feeling of one step forward, two steps back. It's been made a thousand times more complicated." A Constant Battle The aforementioned government package was met with criticism from some of the country's biggest boxing promoters, who publicly voiced their disdain at the fact that the sport had been ignored. Eddie Hearn, a promoter who counts Anthony Joshua among his clients, said he was "disgusted" that grassroots boxing had not received support and argued that the government were "so far removed" from the communities who depend on boxing clubs as an outlet. Meanwhile Tyson Fury's promoter Frank Warren stated he felt the decision to exclude boxing from the relief fund was "outrageous". Boxing England have explained: "A significant challenge has been to ensure that clubs have remained financially stable at a time when they have had limited income. "[The organisation] has attempted to contact every member club to offer help in securing financial assistance through relevant grants where needed. This work has helped a number of clubs survive when they might otherwise have struggled." Based in Hillsborough, the Sheffield Boxing Centre is at the heart of the community and offers boxing and fitness classes to all abilities and age groups but also has a number of pros training out of the club.

The gym has been run for almost three decades by former lightweight boxer Glyn Rhodes MBE, who has helped to bring through some of the country's finest boxing talent. However, despite the success enjoyed by the SBC, Glyn admits the club has not been immune to the challenges posed by the pandemic as prolonged closure has led to income loss. "It's took a big knock, our place. We've still got to pay the rent, but how can we pay the rent if we're not getting the kids through the door and while we've had help its not the same. It seems to be a battle, a constant battle." This loss has meant he is all the more grateful to his sponsors who always ensure the club is looked after, but for Glyn, money is not the primary concern. Instead, it is the impact the closure is having on the youngsters up and down the country who see boxing gyms as a sanctuary. "Through all this, kids have not been able to come to the gym or play sports, so I worry there might be some damage done mentally. "It's really worrying that, in the last year, all these facilities have had to close down. I understand why this has had to happen but it's still heartbreaking." There is certainly light at the end of a long and dark tunnel for boxing in the Steel City, but the pandemic has truly been a sucker-punch.

Market Wars: The Rise of NFTs

4:07pm

Credit: QuoteInspector.com They've been popularised by a diverse crowd ranging from Aphex Twin to Elon Musk - but are non-fungible tokens a force for good which will level the art world's financial playing field, or the polar opposite? In the past few months, there's been a sea change in how the general population views the world's financial movers and shakers. As a response to the increase in overall CEO wealth, a band of Reddit users worked together to short the stock of GameStop, a U.S-based video game retailer. It's no surprise, then, that online culture has devised a method of financial transaction which attempts to take money out of the hands of wall street hedge fund managers and into the hands of everyday people. On March 11th, Beeple, a digital artist from South Carolina, made history: he was the first person to sell an NFT, or a non-fungible token, through major art dealer Christie's, propelling the phenomenon into mainstream Internet culture. Let's dive into the phenomenon.

What is cryptocurrency?

At its core, non-fungible tokens are a development in the cryptocurrency craze. The most popular type at the moment is Bitcoin, and the term is often used interchangeably with cryptocurrency. Basically, it's an electronic currency, similar to the debit you would have on a bank card, only it exists exclusively on a computer. It can be converted to cash, and the conversion rate tends to inflate and deflate quite rapidly, giving the business a similar feel to gambling for its users - part of the thrill comes from deciding whether to risk losing your investment or to cut your losses. It's also possible to buy and sell things online using cryptocurrency. This new type that supports NFTs purportedly democratises the online media landscape, making it so artists can easily retain copyright of their work and buyers can have proof of purchase. The thought behind the latter is that people will be able to demonstrate that they have the 'original' as opposed to a copy of the initial non-fungible token, meaning the online market is now more reminiscent of the traditional art industry.

Why do people use NFTs?

Beeple has been in the game for a while. He sold his first NFT in October 2020, and since then, the phenomenon has increased considerably in popularity. Kings of Leon released their first album in four and a half years, When You See Yourself, as an NFT on 5 March. Last weekend, Aphex Twin, a Cornish electronic musician, auctioned a piece of visual art - with music by himself and visuals by Weirdcore, who has created visuals for various artists, including the Sri Lankan musician M.I.A - through Twitter. "We will spend a portion of the money on planting trees and either donating to permaculture projects or setting them up ourselves, depending on how much we get," he said.

What's the issue with NFTs?

Although NFT trading is in its infancy, there are concerns about the impact they will have on the environment. Before being sold, a piece of art is converted into an NFT through a cryptocurrency called Ether, which is distributed through a Blockchain called Etherum (a Blockchain is essentially a digital ledger). It works in a similar way to an MP3 or a GIF file; the difference between an NFT and a traditional file is that the latter provides the buyer with a unique token of authenticity, proving it's the original. This is done through a process called 'Proof of Work Validation,' which requires a series of puzzles to be solved in order to validate the transaction. This process uses a considerable amount of energy and is intentionally costly: a proof of work process uses an extremely large amount of electricity, making it expensive, and is used for two reasons. The first is to deter scammers from utilising the method to steal goods (after all, the point of theft is to make money, not lose it), and the second is to ensure that both the buyer and seller have proof the purchase took place - like a shop receipt. [infogram id="double-comparison-1hxr4zx7yvdwq6y?live"] The process is controversial because of the amount of greenhouse gases it produces. A single transaction produces 62.56 kWh - equivalent to the power consumption of an average U.S household over around two days. However, Ethereum themselves claim that NFTs do not increase the cryptocurrency's carbon footprint - in fact, they claim as the method is revised and improved, its carbon footprint will decrease by 99.98%. Ethereum claims that an alternative to its Proof-of-Work method, named Proof-of-Stake, will reduce the environmental impact of trading NFTs through the service, though there is currently very little data to support this. Maxwell Ayamba, Msc, Project co-ordinator for the Sheffield Environmental Movement, said: “I’m going to speak in terms of relevance with groups i work with, with regards to knowledge and awareness of NFTs, and as a result of that, how NFTs really impact on the environment in the perception of the groups I work with. Because what I want to point out is that there are a lot of things going on that people are not aware of. If you go out on the street and you interview people… they aren’t going to know what they are. The only people aware of NFTs are people within that particular culture."

Do NFTs have a future?

Much of the culture surrounding NFT sales is to do with exclusivity. After all, if you can pay slightly less for a reproduction of the same thing, there doesn't seem like much benefit to owning the original aside from retaining bragging rights. Ultimately, as it stands, the only tangible benefit for most artists - ones who aren't earning the big bucks - is that they can retain ownership of their work. The advent of NFTs is nothing more than a reproduction of the bourgeois art market in online spheres. The purveyors of NFTs need to ask themselves: is the environmental damage worth it?

Reduced bus fare for South Yorkshire’s under-21s part of £860m investment strategy

3:54pm

Sheffield teens and young adults will be paying less for their bus journeys after a new investment strategy was approved. Economic support in the form of reduced bus fares was promised for South Yorkshire's under-21s at a Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) board meeting which discussed a new investment strategy for South Yorkshire this morning. The strategy, which sees the utilisation of £860m of MCA funding to help support the region's economy following the pandemic, promises an an 80p single bus fare for those under 21 in an attempt strengthen the ability of young people to access and connect to jobs and training opportunities. Mayor of Sheffield City Region Dan Jarvis said: “This is a hugely significant moment for South Yorkshire. The proposals in this paper give us real fire power to unlock growth in the economy and to support our young people. I commend the work that members and officers have done to get us to this point." Set to last for a year beginning June 21, estimates put the cost of introducing the concession in the region of £6.7m. Addressing the board meeting, Sheffield City Region Chief Executive Dr Dave Smith said: “Due to the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on the region’s young people it was felt necessary to apply additional targeting on a time-limited basis to support young people and young adults seeking to recover from the impact of the economy, on jobs and prospects." On a national level, 60 per cent of the reduction in pay rolled employees since March 2020 has been in people aged under 25, and the redundancy rate is much higher for people aged 16-24 according to the MCA's report. South Yorkshire's investment strategy is also set to spend £340m on transport and environment, housing and infrastructure, education, skills and employability and business growth and recovery.

From Croquet to Quidditch: Find out how Sheffield clubs are preparing for the return of grassroots sports

3:49pm

Image credit: Sheffield Hockey Club On March 29th the latest easing of lockdown restrictions come into place, which will allow outdoor sport facilities to reopen to the public. In light of this, here's a snapshot of some of Sheffield's local sports clubs to see how they are preparing to return to action and how you can join in. Croquet Eugene Chang, Chairman of Sheffield Croquet Club, said that due to Croquet being a very socially-distanced friendly sport, sales had gone up in equipment by 600% at some retailers: "It's been really good for people's mental health, that they were able to do something different to walking. We are going to be reopening at Easter, we are open for general membership. If people want to come as a small group to try it out we can provide sanitised equipment for them to use." https://www.facebook.com/SheffieldCroquetClub Football Barney Chart, President of Sheffield Union Football Club: "We plan on resuming a routine training programme from 29 March, and making sure players are available over Easter to start playing in the Brian and Judith Bradley Memorial Cup from 3 April for the first team. The second team have league fixtures to play out until the end of the season. The lads are absolutely raring to get going again with a lot of the second team players pushing for a spot in the first team. It is a great chance to get our hands on some silverware after a long time out!" Hockey Sheffield Hockey Club: "Sheffield Hockey Club is excited at the prospect of resuming grass roots sports and getting back on the pitch. We are awaiting with hope for the guidance to be issued this week from England Hockey’s conversations with the government and are putting plans in place to proceed with caution in managing our Covid protocols, which we successfully deployed last year to assure the safety of our members. I would sum it up as cautiously excited!"

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Rugby Union Hallamshire RUFC: "At the moment we’re waiting on the Rugby Football Union for guidance details, the general plan so far is to start with limited contact training after the 29th March. This will involve handling drills, uncontested rucking etc. To allow players to get back to the swing of rugby. Once the May milestone passes we can play modified rugby against other clubs, June would see a return to full contact rugby with Rucks, mauls etc. It looks like rugby will be back to normal next season, at the earliest at the moment. As ever though Hallamshire will welcome anyone who wants to come take part, we run a men’s senior team (18+) and will be posting updates on training on our Facebook page as plans are confirmed." Quidditch Amit Portnoy, President of Sheffield Quidditch Club: "Once the rule of 6 is in place from the 29th of March, we will be able to hold socially distant 6 person trainings in our usual spot at the Ponderosa. If anyone wants to join, there will be links to sign up to training." https://www.facebook.com/sheffieldquidditchclub/ Tennis Jonathan Wragg, head coach at Fulwood Sports Club: "We have 3 weeks of children’s Easter camps and the normal junior programme will start again in the summer term. Our men’s and ladies teams are also keen to be back playing matches later in April. I am sure the tennis courts will be very busy with people enjoying the chance to play again. " With a host of sporting activities to choose from, those in Sheffield should be excited at the prospect of getting back out onto the pitches, courts and parks which they have sorely missed out on over the last few months.

Plans for new indoor bouldering centre in Sheffield unveiled

3:43pm

Plans have been put forward to turn a disused warehoused unit into a large indoor bouldering centre at in Burngreave. The project is being run by Grip UK, alongside Urbanspace Planning to make use of the abandoned space at 15 Sutherland Street, Burngreave. The company, which trades under the name 'The Climbing Hangar', is planning for a 1430 sq. metre conversion of the existing warehouse to provide a "unique leisure experience comprising a centre for climbers of all levels to practice bouldering." The Climbing Hangar have been operating for a decade, with sites in Liverpool, Plymouth, Swansea and London, and with the upcoming Tokyo Olympics debuting rock climbing as an Olympic sport, the excitement surrounding the sport is reaching new heights. Their planning application adds: "Following the success of, and demand for, The Climbing Hangar’s existing operations, the operator has identified an opportunity to open a new centre to cater for the catchment area to the east of Sheffield, where the sport is increasingly growing in popularity. The proposed use is aimed at catering for the surrounding local area." Positioned only a mile away from the city centre, and readily accessed by public transport, the proposed centre is ideally situated for its "core target audience of 16 to 45-year olds."

The proposal lays out plans to convert this disused warehouse into a 1000+ sq. ft indoor bouldering centre. Credit: Google Street View

The news has been met by overwhelming positivity from rock climbing and bouldering enthusiasts. Casey Hartley, 21, of Beighton, said: "I love rock climbing, Sheffield is a hub for all kinds of sports and there are a few different places where you can go and practice but it is great to see another one look to open." "I have not been able to do it since the first lockdown a year ago, bouldering is loads of fun and really safe too. With the Olympic games featuring the sport this summer hopefully we will see more people get involved in it." The prospect of participation in the sport exponentially growing following its exposure at the upcoming Olympic games has solid grounding. Following women's boxing being added to the London 2012 Olympic roster, women's boxing has exploded and has created household names out of Nicola Adams, Katie Taylor and Claressa Shields. Benjamin Livingstone, 29, of Doncaster, hopes that he will see the sport he loves follow a similar trajectory: "I would love to see people like Adam Ondra and Chris Sharma get the recognition they deserve. They are both climbing world champions but outside of our community nobody really knows who they are." "Sheffield has a storied past of creating world champions in a variety of sports and now with this new project hopefully one day we will see an Olympic champion in climbing from there too." The proposal aims to recruit 15 staff on part-time contracts and 15 more on full-time, all from local areas where possible. They aim to be open from 6:30AM to 10PM throughout the week and 9AM to 8PM on the weekend.

Sheffield MP accuses Government of electoral point scoring with new levelling up funding

3:33pm

A Sheffield MP has lashed out at the Government for failing to provide any means to measure the success of their levelling up fund. The £4.8bn fund is intended to improve infrastructure around the UK but lacks a clear measure of impact, according to Sheffield South MP Clive Betts. "If levelling up is really to work, we need to set clear and tangible criteria to judge its success ahead of time, otherwise it will become nothing more than a political football for the Government to throw around with no impact on the real world,” he said. Mr Betts last week questioned the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Eddie Hughes MP, on how the Government will measure the success of the the fund. Mr Hughes responded: "If we're going to determine the success of these projects, the British electorate will probably do that at the next General Election, so I look forward to seeing how that turns out." Following the exchange, Mr Betts pointed out there are multiple ways the Government could measure the fund's success, including monitoring levels of deprivation and poverty, or life expectancy. "However, it is telling the Government have no interest in any of these and it seems suggestive that this whole manifesto was just for electoral point scoring rather than improving people’s lives in communities that have been left behind,” he added. The allocation of the Levelling Up Fund has also faced criticism, with 39 of the 45 new grants revealed earlier this month going to towns with a Conservative MP. “If the Government are not going to allocate funds where they are needed most, or publish any success criteria for the projects they fund, their levelling up agenda is just noise, and a poor disguise for pork barrel politics,” Mr Betts said.

Local Area Committees approved during fraught council meeting, after “eight wasted years”

3:21pm

Sheffield's local communities are to be given back the power to make changes in their own areas. Sheffield City Council is to re-establish Local Area Committees (LACs) across the city "eight wasted years" after they were abolished. The proposal for seven new LACs was headed last Thursday by Labour councillors who called the motion the "first huge step in empowering our communities." However, some Liberal Democrat councillors, who also supported the introduction of the scheme, were enraged, claiming to have proposed similar schemes over the last eight years only for them to be turned down. The phrase "eight wasted years" was used first by Cllr Andrew Sangar and continued to be repeated throughout the debate by annoyed Liberal Democrat councillors.

The extraordinary meeting was held over Zoom

LACs used to exist in Sheffield but were abolished by the Labour ruling administration at the time in favour of Local Area Partnerships (LAPs). LAPs did not have devolved powers and were therefore limited in their ability to respond to the needs of their communities. The new committees will serve individual communities within the city from May 2021. They will have their own budgets and elected decision-making authorities to ensure communities can make decisions which best serve their unique interests and needs. The aim is to shift power away from the Town Hall in an attempt to engage and empower Sheffield citizens to have a greater role and direct say on key issues in their communities.

Sheffield Town Hall

Cllr Alison Teal, Green Party, said she was angered by the proposal and called the motion a "sham" as she, along with other members of the Council, were not consulted and neither were many Sheffield residents who the changes will directly affect. She also suggested the rush to get the new system approved was politically motivated due to the proximity of the decision to the local council elections which will be held in May. Her Green Party colleague Cllr Kaltum Rivers also expressed disappointment at the rushed proposal, adding community leaders were disappointed they had not been listened to. However, Cllr Tony Damms, Labour, heralded the introduction of LACs as "a step forward by giving members of our communities a voice." At the meeting, leader of the council Cllr Bob Johnson said they would be doubling the ward monetary pots and giving an extra £100,000 to each LAC to tackle graffiti, fly-tipping and littering in their area.

Sheffield skyline

This caused confusion among other councillors, with Cllr Ian Auckland, Liberal Democrats, highlighting the point of the scheme was to give communities the ability to decide where their budgets were spent. Despite Labour councillors having to contend with an "opposition of mardy bums" according to deputy leader Cllr Terry Fox, the majority of the council agreed more power at a local level was good for Sheffield communities and voted the proposal through. Cllr Auckland said: "The local approach is about repairing confidence in politics and part of the solution to restoring trust in local politics."

Sheffield councillor secures centrally monitored CCTV trial for Woodhouse community ‘scared witless’ by gang activity

3:06pm

A Sheffield community terrorised by gang violence is to trial a new centrally monitored CCTV system after Labour councillors gained funding. Cllr Mick Rooney has announced a 10-camera CCTV system is to be set up in Woodhouse in an effort to crack down on anti-social behaviour and crime. This comes after residents declared they had lost faith in the police and the local council following a shooting in Woodhouse earlier this month. Cllr Rooney said: “We take the situation in Woodhouse very seriously with the anti-social behaviour that has been taking place and we’re trying to put a stop it, it’s that simple. “We’ve been working on this plan for quite some time, and we’ve managed to put together something that will hopefully reassure people that we take them seriously.” The trial, which will be paid for out of the Community Safety Fund, will see the 10 cameras placed at points within the community which offer maximum coverage, the feed will then be sent live to a monitoring room from which operators will notify the police of any suspicious activity. Street Wardens with the power to issue on the spot fines will also be introduced to the area.

Councillor Mick Rooney has gained funding to introduce a centrally monitored CCTV system in the Woodhouse area. This... Posted by Woodhouse Ward Labour Councillors on Friday, 19 March 2021

Cllr Rooney said, if the trial proves to be a success, they will then be looking at expanding the use of these systems across the city. The proposal was greeted with a mixture of relief and scepticism within the Woodhouse community, which has seen a sharp rise in criminal activity. Many in the community took to Facebook to welcome the announcement. One resident said: “Well done Mick, we are lucky to have such a proactive passionate councillor.” However, Woodhouse resident Ben Deighton criticised the council for their slow response. He said: “Not to say it’s a bad thing getting the cameras; however the praise is misguided. “Up to four weeks ago, local councillors, MPs and police were adamant that there was no problem with crime in our area. It has taken certain Facebook groups to prove this is not the case. “The groups in question would not be fobbed off and kept on at councillors, MPs and police until something was done.” Frustrated by the lack of action being taken to curb these crimes, Mr Deighton set up the Facebook group ‘S13 and S12 criminal activity evidence and patrol information’ in September, alongside Michelle Wong, after his car was broken into. Mr Deighton said: “[Residents] have had enough now, it’s scaring everybody witless. Initially it was breaking into vehicles, now they’ve stepped it up. Now it’s gun crime. “People are constantly looking over their shoulders and they feel it’s unsafe to go out your property.” Cllr Rooney acknowledged the role of local community groups in bringing the severity of the problem to their attention. He said: “They have been helpful in highlighting the issues and they have been a contributory factor, but there were others involved. We have responded to public concern. That’s what we do, it’s the duty of a public servant to respond to the issues that people raise with us.” South Yorkshire Police declined to comment on the situation in Woodhouse.

Ed Cosens of Reverend and the Makers talks lockdown, Leadmill and live music’s return

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Credit- Ed Cosens Amidst a difficult year for the music industry, Ed Cosens of Reverend and the Makers talks about his solo project, the impact of the pandemic on artists and his excitement for the return of live shows. “I’ve been doing gigs since I was in school- the last time I didn’t play live for a year I was probably 13.” It’s safe to say the past 12 months have been strange for Ed Cosens. As guitarist for Sheffield’s own Reverend and the Makers, well-renowned for their raucous performances, the stage has become like a second home. The pandemic has closed venues for now, but even more frustratingly, it has forced Cosens to twice postpone the release of his solo album, Fortunes Favour. “The album was recorded just before lockdown, so that was done- getting the album out there is what got kiboshed. “It’s really hard at times, waiting to release something that you wrote three years ago and recorded 18 months ago- it’s a long time to wait to put it out there and show people. It’s been very challenging but thankfully we are nearly at the end of that road and the next part of the journey can begin.”

Credit- Ed Cosens

That journey has been a long time in the making. It was a decade ago that Cosens first considered embarking on a solo project, and it has taken patience to cultivate that newborn idea into the album now awaiting release on 9 April. “At the time it didn’t feel right to take that break. I hadn’t quite figured out what it was I wanted to do and how I wanted to sound. “About three years ago I started to get a batch of songs together that I was a lot happier with, I had a direction for them and a bit of confidence in what I was trying to do. When we got a natural gap from what we were doing as Reverend and the Makers, it allowed me to pursue it properly. “It’s very much a personal record. This is my first real foray into presenting my lyrics to the world, so I needed it to mean something to me, and to feel comfortable with what I was talking about. “It reflects on a lot of life experiences: the classic things you go through growing up, falling in and out of love, relationships with work and people- it’s all in there. People will recognise and connect with the themes of the songs and understand a lot of what I’m talking about.” For all the disruption of the past 12 months, Cosens admits that the pandemic has also afforded him artistic opportunities that might otherwise have failed to materialise. “It’s been difficult obviously, but it has allowed us time to think about the album a bit more. We got the chance to focus on developing the visual side and the music videos even further, which we wouldn’t have got if it had been released when we intended. “It’s been awful for the industry, but creatively, it has given people the space to do interesting things.” Indeed, Cosens is one of the few Sheffielders lucky enough to have found himself in The Leadmill in recent weeks. Although the doors to this cornerstone of Sheffield’s musical heritage remain closed, he was able to take advantage of its empty schedule to film the video for Lovers Blues on its stage. “It was great being able to film it in Leadmill, an iconic venue and somewhere I’ve played many times- to get in there and do that almost felt like playing a gig. “It was a little tantalising view of what hopefully will come back to us sooner rather than later.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFq7caFcFXM Cosens is yet to schedule any gigs, hoping to avoid the pattern of organising and cancelling shows that has become the norm over the last year. However, his anticipation for the return of live music, whenever that happens, was evident throughout. “There’s going to be huge excitement- those first few gigs are going to be carnage. It will be really interesting to see quite how it pans out, but they’re going to be electric, let’s be honest.” As well as those exhilarating atmospheres, Cosens was also looking forward to a change of pace, swapping some of the stages graced by Reverend and the Makers for smaller, more intimate venues. “There’s something beautiful and wonderful about playing a smaller club. You’re so much closer to everybody, it’s a different electricity in the room with a smaller amount of people- I’m definitely excited about that. ”The first time I go out on stage, it will almost be like starting again. Hopefully we capture that initial excitement and buzz that we had when we first started with Reverend, the audience will feed off that and it’ll be a similar kind of energy.” Of course, it would have been rude not to ask a member of one of Sheffield’s best loved bands about what makes the city so conducive to musical innovation. For Cosens, there is a mentality within these seven hills that sets it apart from the rest of the country. “There’s something about the makeup and landscape of Sheffield- there’s an underlying mental attitude of creativity and self-deprecation that lends itself to a very interesting way of working. Over the years we’ve had various scenes and pockets that have sprung up and highlighted that. “The way that Manchester and Liverpool shout about themselves, Sheffield does the opposite, but it gives us that edge that other places don’t have, and it contributes to those bursts of creativity that really strike a chord with people.” https://open.spotify.com/artist/6SRfhRHP8UApg1gQdin1nf?si=9RhIq2TjSDy6gvob5qromA