Hi

I wondered if you could help me.

I'm a student at the UoS currently researching inequalities in Sheffield's housing stock. I am part of a group of students developing a presentation for a third year Geography module on the topic.

As you may imagine, researching this involves trawling through lots of data, getting out and about and taking photos, etc.

However, what I feel would really benefit our work is finding out what the residents of Sheffield think. I think inequalities and life chances is an emotive and human topic, and that staring blankly at stats doesn't get you particularly far!

So...Which parts of town do you think are the most deprived? Statistics suggest the Manor isn't a nice place to live... but is the physical envrionment actually that bad or are the residents what drag the area down?

Wherabouts is Sheffield's worst housing? Why is it the worst? Is it dangerous to live in? Are there estates that the council have left to rot?

How you would you describe the general quality of Sheffield's housing stock? Are there too many two up/two downs? Is there a lack of city living? Where do Sheffield's residents aspire to live?

And perhaps most importantly, how do you feel Sheffield's housing effects residents life chances? Can living in poor housing from a young age in the city affect you for the rest of your life?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer on any of these questions. I am really interested to find out what you all think on this issue. Comments may be included in our presentation to the rest of our student group (approx 40 people).

I have an idea. why dont you go to sheffield council and ask if you could stay in one of their empty properties for a week and see what its like?

Blimey! haha. Do you want the forum to answer your presentation for you???!! Ill assist you with this.........firstly are you from sheffield? How well do you know the area? Whats the title of the project and what have you done so far apart from putting this post on here???!!!

So...Which parts of town do you think are the most deprived? Statistics suggest the Manor isn't a nice place to live... but is the physical envrionment actually that bad or are the residents what drag the area down?

First things first, I would class a 'deprived' area in Sheffield as 1 that has more social/crime problems and less household income as a whole, than the rest of Sheffield. Obviously when I mention deprived area I am not attacking all residents of the area, just that the area as a whole is 'deprived'. This is more of a disclaimer geo369 than any useful info, as these threads usually turn into 'I live there, it's nice, why are you slagging it off etc.'. I've been guilty of it myself but now mostly stay clear of such arguments as they usually spiral out of control.

Anyway to your question - there are a number of deprived areas in Sheffield and the greatest continual swath of deprivation is located in north east (with an overlap into the start of the north west) Sheffield. Here's a link that shows you the boundaries of the different neighbourhoods in Sheffield http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/sheffield-facts-figures/area-maps but just to note that IMO some of the names used are fictional i.e. Woodside & Abbeyfield are actually in Pitsmoor and Old/New Parson Cross is just 1 area with Colley also part of this area. By and large the names are accurate though. The continuous area I am talking about in the NE comprises of Pitsmoor/Burngreave, Shirecliffe, Firs Hill, Page Hall/Fir Vale, Firth Park, Shiregreen, Firth Park, Wincobank/Brightside, Parson Cross, Longley and then continuing to the North Western districts of Fox Hill and Southey Green.

Other areas I would class as deprived are Tinsley, Darnall, Manor (Manor Top, Lower Manor and Manor Park) which are in east Sheffield and Sharrow, Wybourn, Arbourthorne, Gleadless Valley, Lowedges, Batemoor & Jordanthorpe in south Sheffield. The part of Broomhall nearest to the town centre is also deprived but it is only a very small area of maisonettes and once you get past them it isn't too bad and is mostly full of students.

On the whole most areas in Sheffield mainly consist of housing and a small number of flats and there aren't any areas I can think of that are particularly overcrowded. IMO it is a SMALL MINORITY of bad residents that cause problems in certain areas and not overcrowding and lack of space. Obviously these areas are then blighted by having a poor landscape (litter, parks too dangerous for kids to go into etc.) but the bad residents lead to this rather than the other way round. Most areas I know of have a reasonable amount of green space too so in general the 'concrete jungle' tag isn't one I would apply to Sheffield.

Wherabouts is Sheffield's worst housing? Why is it the worst? Is it dangerous to live in? Are there estates that the council have left to rot?

Do you mean the actual housing units or just the worst area to live in for life chances? If it's the first I don't know and if it's the second, it's debatable but would almost definitely be 1 of the deprived areas I listed previously.

How you would you describe the general quality of Sheffield's housing stock? Are there too many two up/two downs? Is there a lack of city living? Where do Sheffield's residents aspire to live?

I would say Sheffield's housing stock is generally good as most of it's areas contain a mixture of flats and houses and as I mentioned before, I can't think of any area that is particularly overcrowded/made up mainly of flats or 2 up/2 downs.

There are currently 2 as yet unfinished City Centre 'skyscrapers' and a number of other places already built for people to live in in the City Centre. As is the case with most cities the general concensus is that these places are white elephants
that are going to rapidly lose value. Whether or not this happens is another argument but this puts a lot of people off buying these places anyway and as far as I know there is no real pent up demand for City Centre living at the moment. That's not to say these places are ghost towns at all or that you can't sell your place there, just that there is no real lack of City Centre living.

It depends on the individual as to where they would most aspire to live but the most expensive areas of Sheffield are the suburbs in outer south west Sheffield that are Dore, Totley, Bradway, Whirlow and Ecclesall. I think Dore and Whirlow are the most expensive out them but I could be wrong. These areas make up the Hallam Ward (there may be other areas in it too, I am not 100% sure) which a few years ago had the second highest average income (or something similar) outside of Kensington & Chelsea - I think it's something like 4th or 5th now but again I am not sure. You can probably guess that I don't live in one of these areas or know them that well as I am guessing a bit on some of the facts but this is undisputedly the 'posh' end of town. Other desirable areas include Bradfield and nearby small villages in the far north west and Fulwood, Ranmoor, Lodge Moor, Banner Cross, Bents Green and Greystones in west Sheffield.

Crookes, Broomhill and Walkley are also quite nice and are located quite close to the city centre so if you wanted to be close to the centre of Sheffield you might choose one of these. Generally the inner city areas of Sheffield are deprived but so are some of the outer districts with Fox Hill, Parson Cross, Southey Green and Tinsley a bit out from the city centre. Jordanthorpe, Batemoor and Low Edges are located at the southern tip of Sheffield and are all deprived areas.

And perhaps most importantly, how do you feel Sheffield's housing effects residents life chances? Can living in poor housing from a young age in the city affect you for the rest of your life?

Without a doubt living in a deprived area effects a residents life chances with these areas having problems such as drugs, gang crime, poor schools and poor facilities. Sometimes it's the parents fault that a kid turns out 'bad' but sometimes it's not and it's a result of external factors - a kid from a deprived area is at a disadvantage to a kid from a wealthy area. Sure there are plenty of people from deprived areas who do well for themselves but your chances of doing so are diminished from birth.

Hope all this helps but feel free to ask more questions if you want.