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What has happened to the Gleadless Valley.

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Yesterday I visited an old friend who is unwell and who has lived on the Gleadless Valley for forty five years.

 

It is around fourteen or fifteen years since I last visited the area and to say I was shocked would be an understatement to say the least.

 

This once proud estate that once had visitors from the four corners of the Globe to marvel at its Architectural design and outlook has sunk into a sad sorry mess.

 

As I walked up the surrounding roads and footpaths that used to be so pristine with tendered gardens and cared for backyards all that greeted my eyes was mounds of rubbish strewn across the very same gardens or thrown from balconies onto the walkways.

 

The hedge bottoms are littered with discarded beer and pop cans along with shoes, clothes and nappy liners .

Standing like beacons among all this distressing scene are the odd houses that are still well cared for although they seem to be in the minority now in my friends surrounding area.

 

So what has happened to this once proud social housing estate that was the pride of Sheffield at the beginning of the sixties through to the early nineties ,why has it deteriorated so sadly.why has it been allowed to do so.

 

It seems as though some people have no pride and they seem to be slipping back into the stone age .

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Changes to Lettings Policies, The Right to Buy plus an upsurge in private owner occupation over the years all have had an effect on social housing. Properties in Gleadless Valley are regularly advertised by the council as 'First Come First Served' meaning there is little or no demand for them.

 

Some estates, often those in 'desirable areas' are still in demand, however they tend to be the areas where few council homes are left for rent, so waiting times can be lengthy.

 

Council cuts won't help the litter problem, although the main reason is people just throwing their rubbish where they feel like it, and it's well nigh impossible to enforce garden maintenance nowadays. Really sad for those residents who have always looked after their homes and gardens when the general standard goes down the Nick.

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The litter problem is not always down to the tenants, the strong winds blew over blue bins and boxes scattering the rubbish everywhere, the estate teams are brilliant trying to stop a never ending stream of rubbish being thrown everywhere. The scum tenants and some of the immigrants that have been given properties on the Valley just don't care because they know it will be cleaned up for them. This once cracking estate has been pulled down by the druggies, burglars etc. that infest the estate and the housing don't help, they make rules but don't enforce them, dogs are kept by tenants despite them signing a legal document saying they agree not to have one and what happens they move in with their designer dog spreading its excrement everywhere. Curtains are never drawn back, Windows never cleaned, grassed areas turned into quagmires by cars parking on them and kids and grown ups playing football. There are still brilliant tenants on the valley but the council seem to be hell bent on forcing them out by putting, what I consider children, into properties and just causing mayhem.

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Have to agree, worked up there for a few years after 2000 and it would be fair to say it is becoming or has become a sink estate. There is no waiting list and pretty soon the council may have to pay people to live there. Don,t get me wrong there are some great people live there, real salt of the earth types but unfortunately these people tend to stay put of sight and are outnumbered by the dross who are very visual and vocal.

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My family moved on to the valley in april 1960. after living in slums in the old pitsmoor on pye bank road. that had no bathroom or indoor toilet, neither central heating. then we moved on to the valley into a tower house. it was marvellous indoor toilet, bathroom a form of central heating. a big kitchen, 3 bedrooms even though one was a small box room. we were surrounded by trees and woodland with 2 streams running through them, there were no shops at that time just a wooden hut on Leighton road. there were 4 pubs the horse and groom, the john a gaunt, the blackstock, and the yvern. though I was only 10 at the time also there was lees hall golf course on one side.as kids we played for hours in the woods damming the streams, staying out playing till it got dark. the was no danger, and no harm came from anyone no one had heard of peodo's, the estate was the toast of Sheffield and Europe coach trips came from all over to see it's open plan area's new house designs. now it's in need od updating and getting rid of gangs, drug taking and dealers along with street drinkers I do hope they can pull it round and make it the pride of Sheffield it once was s belk

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Yesterday I visited an old friend who is unwell and who has lived on the Gleadless Valley for forty five years.

 

It is around fourteen or fifteen years since I last visited the area and to say I was shocked would be an understatement to say the least.

 

This once proud estate that once had visitors from the four corners of the Globe to marvel at its Architectural design and outlook has sunk into a sad sorry mess.

 

As I walked up the surrounding roads and footpaths that used to be so pristine with tendered gardens and cared for backyards all that greeted my eyes was mounds of rubbish strewn across the very same gardens or thrown from balconies onto the walkways.

 

The hedge bottoms are littered with discarded beer and pop cans along with shoes, clothes and nappy liners .

Standing like beacons among all this distressing scene are the odd houses that are still well cared for although they seem to be in the minority now in my friends surrounding area.

 

So what has happened to this once proud social housing estate that was the pride of Sheffield at the beginning of the sixties through to the early nineties ,why has it deteriorated so sadly.why has it been allowed to do so.

 

It seems as though some people have no pride and they seem to be slipping back into the stone age .

Lack of government investment, social decline and drugs.

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I've lived in Gleadless Valley for 51 years.

 

As other have said on here, Gleadless Valley has gone into decline and it looks shabby.

 

One upon time it was regarded as a show piece area.......look at it now, everywhere you look: streets, grass banks, woodland are strewn with beer cans, take away wrappers and other rubbish, grass verges have been churned up by people driving on them / parking on them, trees that have been damaged by weather or scroats with branches only just attached to the tree by a sinew are left hanging until they withered and drop off, street lights not working.......the list is endless.

 

Where I live, all the old neighbours have gone up to their maker in the sky, the houses have been taken over by un-disirables from other area's, they dump waste outside their homes and on the grass verges and think nothing about it.

 

I rent a garage and the past two tenants who lived above it, use to open the lounge window and throw their rubbish out infront of my garage.....each time I wanted the car out I had to clean up first - bottles I found on a regular basis smashed infront of my garage, one tenant use to put chip pan fat down the kitchen sink, it blocked the grate in the yard, water overflowed into the yard and through the pavings stones, came through the roof of my garage and soaked everything through.

 

Outside my home, there is a 6 foot wide public path...... people on a regular basis drive past my kitchen widow in their cars - due to the path not being wide enough to accommodate a vehicle the grass bank gets chewed up....mud all over the front of my home.

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What happened to the Valley? Well, even untermensch scum have to live somewhere.

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My father in law has lived there since the 70's.

All his old neighbours have long since moved or died.

He says it hadn't got the community feel it once had and he hardly knows anyone.

The gardens are not tended as they used to be and everything including the shops looks in a state of disrepair.

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The council need to enforce contracts. Those not looking after property and immediate surroundings and those causing nuisance to others need warnings and then action.

 

There is not an estate in Sheffield to match the beauty of these surroundings.

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The council need to enforce contracts. Those not looking after property and immediate surroundings and those causing nuisance to others need warnings and then action.

 

There is not an estate in Sheffield to match the beauty of these surroundings.

 

it really is that simple, get tennants to toe the line or kick em out

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Some years ago I worked for Sheffield Homes.

The criterea then to get a flat was, have you had any rent arrears or anti social behaviour orders. The answer for these young people being given a property was almost certainly "No".

They had probably lived with parents before, so of course they hadn't. Neither did some of them know how to pay rent or look afer a property.

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