Please help stop this planning application

[Allie-pie 10]

Hi folks

 

Hope you don't mind me posting but I feel very strongly about this. There is a planning application going before the next council committee meeting on 17th October which seems to have had very little press but could have wide implications for the character of the city centre. This has only recently come to my attention and although it's very late in the application process, the planning officer will accept comments/objections right up until the day before the meeting and present them to the council members who sit on the planning committee.

 

You can email him directly: [email protected]

 

The application relates to the top end of The Moor, on the corner with Furnival Gate (opposite Debenhams). In many ways it's a great scheme and will have regeneration benefits for that part of the city, increasing interaction between The Moor and the Pinstone Street/Fargate shops. Unfortunately the developers know that and seem to be trying to use it as leverage to get permission to include a huge digital advertising screen in a high and prominent position. The application file can be viewed online by following this link:

 

http://planning.sheffield.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/DcApplication/application_searchform.aspx

 

and entering the application reference 11/02250. If you then click on 'click to view' followed by the 'associated documents' tab and 'view associated documents' you can see all the plans and correspondence so far.

 

The council's own Highways department have raised safety concerns about the screen as it's a busy road junction with lots of pedestrian movement and the screen will be a huge distraction to drivers (its whole point being to attract attention). The highways comment is available to view in the link I've given.

 

By this stage in the application process I would have expected some amended plans to have been submitted with the screen removed but this isn't the case, which leads me to the conclusion that the developers are refusing to take it out in the hope that the council will conclude that the overall benefits outweigh the disbenefits. I deeply believe that the council shouldn't do this. The developers themselves will want to see the land/buildings improved and brought back into use so it's just a question of who gives in to whom!

 

The city's Unitary Development Plan contains a policy relating to advertisements, Policy BE13. It states that an illuminated advert will only be permitted where it does not cause a hazard to motorists AND it does not impact on the character or appearance of an area. The proposed screen fails on both counts.

 

If we allow it to be built, we are seriously changing the character of our city centre. It will set a precedent that cannot be reversed, making it much harder to resist similar proposals in the future because we will have already allowed the character and appearance to fundamentally alter. I firmly believe that our friendly, intimate city centre is unique and special, and that moving it forwards should be about celebrating the city's cultural and industrial heritage and fantastic green spaces. I've spoken to a planning consultant who told me that if this application is granted, he expects we will see 5 or 6 digital advertising screens go up in the next 2-3 years.

 

There is no doubt that in all other ways the application is a good one. You may well look at the plans and decide the screen isn't really so bad, and of course you're perfectly entitled to that opinion. If all I achieve is getting people thinking about the future of our city centre then so be it! However if like me you'd prefer our council to stand their ground and push for the screen to be removed from the proposals, please let the planning officer know within the next 8 days.

 

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this.

[big dinners 10]

Sounds great to me ..

Whats the fuss,its in an already busy buisness district,its not going to affect any homes or other buisnesses.

It's a great way of generating extra income for the buildings owners and a great way for some 'maybe' local buisness to get its name seen by thousands of people.

 

Its the 21st centuary afterall and I dont expect it to be like Times square.

[lazarus 68]

I already know about it and I could not believe it when I saw the proposed plans, I mean we are not Hong Kong or New York its just a little shopping area and a giant screen just doesnt gell, but I suppose it will give the vandals something to throw at!

[lolli_pop 10]

The comments from Highways are pretty uncompromising. Overall it is a great scheme but the position of the screen is silly from a road safety point of view and, as you say, a bad precedent.

[BHRemovals 10]

Sounds like an awfull monstrosoty, bad as city lofts I will look at planning app

[six45ive 10]

Not sure what your point is. Have you never seen Piccadilly Circus in London?

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=piccadilly+circus&hl=en&safe=off&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enGB422GB422&biw=1900&bih=838&site=webhp&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=nYqQTtGhL8W3hQezxonuDw&sqi=2&ved=0CEAQsAQ

[Allie-pie 10]

Not sure what your point is. Have you never seen Piccadilly Circus in London?

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=piccadilly+circus&hl=en&safe=off&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enGB422GB422&biw=1900&bih=838&site=webhp&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=nYqQTtGhL8W3hQezxonuDw&sqi=2&ved=0CEAQsAQ

 

Was that reply to me? Yes of course I've seen Piccadilly Circus. It's awful. We don't have to accept that the future of every city looks like that.

[big dinners 10]

Was that reply to me? Yes of course I've seen Piccadilly Circus. It's awful. We don't have to accept that the future of every city looks like that.

 

And we also dont have accept a City stuck in the last centuary,its only 1 big billboard,whats the beef,the road where its planned is mainly a bus only route so I dont expect it to be much of a distraction.

Buses and cars drive past much bigger eye catching buildings and the majority of motorist will rubberneck to look at an accident on the other side of the motorway.

The novelty will wear off after a couple of week.

I can remember the first rotating billboards attracted this sort stick when they first came out,now they are as common as standard billboards,and I never had an accident while ogling the wonderbra ad:hihi:

[mike208 10]

Not sure what your point is. Have you never seen Piccadilly Circus in London?

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=piccadilly+circus&hl=en&safe=off&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enGB422GB422&biw=1900&bih=838&site=webhp&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=nYqQTtGhL8W3hQezxonuDw&sqi=2&ved=0CEAQsAQ

 

Are you saying that something like Piccadilly Circus would be a good thing?! If so, I'm hoping you haven't written Sheffield's development plan.

 

Something like this would completely undermine the redevelopment of the Moor,something that Sheffield planners have done so well to avoid in other areas that have been redeveloped in the past.

[six45ive 10]

Was that reply to me? Yes of course I've seen Piccadilly Circus. It's awful. We don't have to accept that the future of every city looks like that.

 

Yes I was replying to you and although you say it's awful some may say it's vibrant and alive. I was mainly aiming at your point that it may be distracting for drivers and pedestrians crossing the road which, when compared to Picadilly Circus, makes a nonsense of your objection on that one basis.

[NorthernStar 11]

I think it'll be a great 21st century addition to that part of the city and I personally like the design including the screen.

 

Sorry

[six45ive 10]

Are you saying that something like Piccadilly Circus would be a good thing?! If so, I'm hoping you haven't written Sheffield's development plan.

 

Something like this would completely undermine the redevelopment of the Moor,something that Sheffield planners have done so well to avoid in other areas that have been redeveloped in the past.

 

I'm saying that if any part of the city centre is ideal for Piccadilly Circus style makeover then the top of the Moor/Furnival Gate is it. Much better there than in a much more architecturally sensitive area like the top of Fargate.