I think Sheffield is good, but it could be a lot better.

We've got all the stuff (by stuff I mean amenities such as sports and lesiure facilities etc) that the other big cities have got, but I think we also have a lot of things unique to this area that are under-used.

I reckon very little imagination goes into new developments in Sheffield.

Anyone agree? What would you change?

sheffield needs a bottomless pit, it would be great, we could all chuck stuff in it.. all the scallys, starting with the one that stole my bike... the car thats been abandoned in my parking space thats on private property that the police will not touch... many possibilities (:

I'd develop the canal area around Sheffield.
This is an asset that Sheffield City Council hasn't taken advantage of, unlike other major cities!

Yes I agree about the canal - Birmingham has made good use of their one, but I guess the problem with Sheffield is that the city centre isn't really that close to it. The area around the Hilton has already been redeveloped - but it's like a ghost town.

I guess I'd like to see...

a) Better sense of community (this board has great potential for that IMHO)...

b) Better support for learning at every level...

c) More positivity :D

Sheffield becoming and being recognised as the best city in the world.

I've always thought they should redevelop the area where the roxy and the odeon are. I thought they could have had a multi level shopping centre there, instead of building meadowhell.

I didn't realise other people used "Meadowhell" as its' proper name :o

The whole Roxy/Odeon area is pretty interesting. On the side that faces town, you view it from ground level, but if you walk through the complex by the side of the Odeon you emerge overlooking the bus station from about 5 storeys high.

It's a pretty odd area really. It would be nice to see that area re-developed, as it kind of isolates the bus interchange and train station from the rest of town.

Perhaps the Council's daft cablecar idea might just work here. If a cablecar ran from down in the bus-station up to the top of the complex where Roxy currently sits, it would drop new visitors and commuters right at the doorstep of the town centre.

That would be a stylish way to enter the city!

Also agree about the canal area. Also round the castle market area needs a revamp I think.

Originally posted by jackthedog
The whole Roxy/Odeon area is pretty interesting. On the side that faces town, you view it from ground level, but if you walk through the complex by the side of the Odeon you emerge overlooking the bus station from about 5 storeys high.

It's a pretty odd area really. It would be nice to see that area re-developed, as it kind of isolates the bus interchange and train station from the rest of town.

Perhaps the Council's daft cablecar idea might just work here. If a cablecar ran from down in the bus-station up to the top of the complex where Roxy currently sits, it would drop new visitors and commuters right at the doorstep of the town centre.

That would be a stylish way to enter the city!

Arent they thinking of moving the bus station to Bakers Pool? Or is that just another myth?

With regards to moving the bus station to Barkers Pool, that sounds stupid to me. Why cram a bus station into a place like that.

True, the current Pond Street site is a little out-of-the-way, but at least it is joined to the train station (which couldn't be relocated to Barkers Pool), creating a whole 'interchange' area.

It only seems like a few years since they did the Pond Street Station up anyway! Dont waste the cash.

I'm warming even more to the cablecar theory as I think about it.

The best way to improve Sheffield is Blow it up with the council in it.

Remove all road humps, open all roads that have been blocked off, take all the road signs down that say : no left turn or no right turn, widen all the streets that have been narrowed, Make every garden into a car park, fine everyone £500 for parking on the grass verges, Make dirty cars a criminal offence, reduce the price of petrol to 40p. per litre.

More incentive for companies and developers to rennovate empty buildings or ambandoned industrial plots rather than knocking older buildings down or building on fresh land.
Hit companies who don't re-use where it hurts - their pockets -with sky high charges or fines.

I have seen far too many empty houses and business properties that have been abandoned and allowed to run down.

More community spirit - great start with Sheffield Forum and also the Sheffield Fair (Cosy!!).

Moon Maiden

I think the key issues are

a) reasons for tourists to come here, museums etc (don't even mention the national center for wasting our money)

b)doing up the train station...it's practically prehistoric compared with other large northern cities - have you SEEN Leeds station? they're incomparable.

c)create a huge bouncy castle in place of the Roy disco (no not a typo)

Originally posted by Moon Maiden

More community spirit - great start with Sheffield Forum and also the Sheffield Fair (Cosy!!).

Moon Maiden

Thanks, Moon (from all of us who organise the Fair):D

I'd like to see the Council put more support into community projects (like the fair), instead of treating them like lowly volunteers doing something very sweet but unnecessary, and here's a pat on the head for you, thanks.

At the moment the seams of the community effort are being ripped apart, funding is being taken away as if community doesn't matter (although they're quick enough to use it as a buzzword). The community is the heart and the starting place for all the very best stuff. Not decisions made by people who wouldn't know community if it jumped up and bit them.

Cosy (sharpening my teeth):P

Originally posted by Jayne
I've always thought they should redevelop the area where the roxy and the odeon are.

I agree that would merge the boundaries of good and bad town.

Originally posted by halevan
fine everyone £500 for parking on the grass verges, .

And bus lanes...

Originally posted by noseyrosie
I think the key issues are

b)doing up the train station...it's practically prehistoric compared with other large northern cities - have you SEEN Leeds station? they're incomparable.


Too many beggars and sometimes stinks of urine....

Originally posted by David Bowler
[B]The best way to improve Sheffield is Blow it up with the council in it.

I would love to blow up the MARKET AREAS:thumbsup:
I hate going there it make's me sick:!:

Bomb Leeds............

Originally posted by Longcol
Bomb Leeds............



WHAT A GREAT IDEA:thumbsup:
If i bring the bomb will you bring the matchers:D

Originally posted by venger
And bus lanes...
I think that you will find that the Police already do that. Ah, I forgot, you have a mental block on the Police (pigs or filth as you call 'em) doing good things.

Originally posted by neeeeeeeeeek
sheffield needs a bottomless pit, it would be great, we could all chuck stuff in it.. all the scallys, starting with the one that stole my bike... the car thats been abandoned in my parking space thats on private property that the police will not touch... many possibilities (:
If it is abandoned on private property you can do what you like with it providing that you tell the police. Just put a note on the windscreen for a week saying that you are removing it - then sell it to a car club for rallying.

Originally posted by halevan
Make every garden into a car park, fine everyone £500 for parking on the grass verges Except those of us who have a drive (and use it) and a front garden and maintain the grass verges at our own expense. We will be able to send the Council a bill for £500.

destroy all unused and derilict houses/buildings and build newer houses or just refurbish them.

get more traffic wardens on the street

make the buss services on time

make all the ugly flats new

rebuild most of the universities

More bobbies on the beat

get rid of the hills

and i think thats all

Fletch

An escalator starting at the rail station and running up Howard Street to Arundel Gate.

g

City planning and people planning requires the use of a little creative imagination. Lets all agree Sheffield has had a hard time the last 30 years or so but the outcome is that people lost jobs not decreased output from industry ( which has developed and become more advanced) ...So a problem is unemployment which leisure and culture surely are the key to the future providing jobs which are both rewarding and fun....However if this is to be the future then the housing system surely needs to be re-organised people on these kinds of wages (leisure jobs) can't afford a mortgage and so cheap form of housing need to be developed in the city of which the city centre flats is an example but which are also for now elitist and exclusive...someone working at the Sheffield arena can't afford to live in west one but can't also afford to live in a semi. So the answer is cheap housing in flats but not the mistakes of the past.....the new flats use thoughtfull planning and design with gardens on the roof or on different levels and security cards and cameras.....People want to suceed in society of course they do but the current way people are forced to compete with each other for a slice of the city cake is a farce which creates crime etc.........we must all learn how to be more inclusive and less individual if we want the problems we see and 'moan about' everyday.... crime, housing etc to be resolved...we all to often see these problems as someone elses when they are our problems in our city...the council doesnt run the city our values run the city........

I would make the city Centre more like Meadowhall.

Get rid of the beggers and pigeons, then make it non-smoking. Then tidy it up by removing graffiti etc and have more control of people's behaviour eg, dropping litter, smoking etc.

I would introduce a mono rail system and get rid of that tram. I would then build a dome over the city centre and require that any one who enters the dome wears a shining silver jump suit. All the people would be forced to smile.

We could convince people who were unsure with the catch phrase - "Sheffield is the future!" :)

Originally posted by Fletch
destroy all unused and derilict houses/buildings and build newer houses or just refurbish them.

get more traffic wardens on the street

make the buss services on time

make all the ugly flats new

rebuild most of the universities

More bobbies on the beat

get rid of the hills

and i think thats all

Fletch

Leave my bloody hills alone Fletch:bigsmile:

Originally posted by venger
Too many beggars and sometimes stinks of urine....

Leeds Railway station full of beggars?! You want to visit ANY Railway station in the vicinity of London mate, especially on the Paddington Line, never have I seen so many beggars, many of them young kids, or drunks/down and outs and even Big Issue sellers!

Do that and then come back and whinge about the 2 or 3 beggars who frequent the Railway station in Leeds or anywhere else North of the M25.

Let's make Sheffield a better place by ensuring that old people can go to bed at night feeling safe.
That citizens can feel safe walking home at night,
That children can play without fear or intimidation from others.
by ensuring cheap effective public transport,
by maintaining affordable quality housing,
by developing and maintaining a decent transport infrastrusture
by aspiring to better education for all
by treating all our neighbours as we would wish to be treated ourselves,
by seeing value in everyone irrespective of position or influence
by smiling a bit more.

[i]
That would be a stylish way to enter the city! [/B]

Let's remove the sign at J36 of the M1 that says Sheffield (north) and knock down some of the dissused factories at Atlas so that anyone who comes to Sheffield from the north doesn't immediately have to drive through the armpit of the city.

I've mentioned this before, but it really put me off Sheffield when I came on the university open day many years ago and left a lasting impression.

You mean the journey along the A61 that goes through some of the most beautiful countryside to be seen anywhere, then opens up to give a vista of a large green city, before ambling along the valley bottom through succesful vibrant commercial areas that gently turns into the city centre fringed by the famous and desirable University????:loopy:

Methinks that you need to make that drive again with your eyes open and predjudicial tongue firmly rooted in your cheek. :thumbsup:

i dont think victoria quays needs redeveloping-it just needs people! it needs more of a mix of uses. I think resiedential would be really nice down there, i would love to live there!

i would literally blow up castle market its disgusting around there and when you first come into sheffield city centre its a real blot on the landscape

Knock down the Grosvenor and redevelop the whole of that block.

Redevelop the roxy area.

By revamping the whole of the castle market area you would bring the canal basin into play.

Originally posted by JonHarrison
Knock down the Grosvenor and redevelop the whole of that block.

I have it on very good authority that the entire Grosvenor block (not just the "hotel"/knocking shop) is going to be pulled down to make way for an as yet undisclosed new development. Work starts in 2 years time. That whole area is going, including the swish indian and the casbah (no more warpentake!) The council will probably have taken the highest bid from the hotel industry, their only option really considering how large the compensation payout for the businesses on that block is going to be.

more individual resterants in the city centre NOT italian

better shops ( compare sheffield to leeds)

get rid of the castle market and all that common trashy area

less of the stonehouse and student pubs( sorry)

john
x

Sack the council, they clearly know bugger all. about what the PEOPLE want, only what they THINK will make THEM money.

Better, more reliable buses (especially in Stannington and other isolated areas)

I think Sheff has an identity problem. People from Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham and other places seem to me to have strong identities with their cities and a sense of the cities' culture. I don't think Sheff has this. This isn't meant to be a pop at Sheffield or its people. I know lots of people who like me have settled here from elsewhere and enjoy it here. But when I think of Sheffield, I find it difficult to think what symbolises it apart from former industries and a shopping centre.

The Rivers of Sheffield should be cleaned up and made into an asset for us all. Other cities seem to look after any river that runs through its centre but not Sheffield.
The River Don needs a good clean up especially at Ladys Bridge all the trees that grow in the river at that point should be removed and the river bed cleaned out.
At Salmon Pastures my mate George sat and watched a Kingfisher feeding now that is something, so the river must be clean itself to support fish, it just wants all the junk and weeds cleaning out.

Originally posted by lazarus
The Rivers of Sheffield should be cleaned up and made into an asset for us all. Other cities seem to look after any river that runs through its centre but not Sheffield.

I agree and perhaps the forum could adopt a stretch of river and keep it clean. W could get sponsorship and the council would supply a skip and any necessary tools and/or protective clothing.
If I get round to it I'll set up a thread and ask for volunteers. Perhaps a day in the early summer for the work? Any ideas for a location?