Gleadless Valley regeneration plan in need of… regeneration

Good (late) afternoon readers — and welcome to our usual start-of-the-week briefing, coming to you on Tuesday thanks to the Bank Holiday.

Seven years ago, Gleadless Valley residents were promised a radical transformation of their neighbourhood: a £100 million makeover that would refurbish, remodel or replace hundreds of council homes that have seen better days. Since then, not much progress has been made. Two years after it finally published a “masterplan” for the project, Sheffield Council has admitted it needs to go back to the drawing board, blaming rapid inflation for making its original dreams impossible. That’s today’s big story.

Also, a local photographer has been included in next year’s BBC Countryfile calendar and the Leadmill hosts a Hamilton parody production.

Catch up

For our weekend read, Dan did his best to secure answers for an Argentinian investor, who helped fund new student accommodation in Sheffield city centre and now fears he may have been taken for a ride. Work on the Vista building on Pond Street ground to a halt earlier this year after the firm financing it went into administration. Why then, only months later, is that firm’s parent company looking to buy the project back? You can read that piece here.

Last week we sent out two great newsletters to our paying members. In the first, freelancer Sophie Tolhurst wrote about a tribute to early 2000s tech, created by local artists too young to remember it. An extract from that piece is below. For the second, Victoria dug into the complex proxy battle being raged over the city’s bins. 

Zak also seems wistful for the past. When asked about his relationship with technology, he describes it as dependency: "I always say that I’ve got quite an addictive personality”. He would prefer a relationship to the internet that required him to cross town to access the web at a cyber cafe, he explains: “Not only are you getting outside, but also going to a space that’s communicative, and you see other people, real people.”

The big picture: Woolly jumper 🐏

A Sheffield photographer has had one of his shots included in the annual BBC Countryfile calendar. Wesley Kristopher (People of the Peak on Instagram) is based in Charnock but took this photo near Matlock in Derbyshire. His photo was one of 12 selected from over 20,000 for the 2025 edition of the calendar. You can vote for it to be the cover image here.

The big story: Gleadless Valley regeneration plan in need of… regeneration

Top line: Seven years after residents in one of the city’s most deprived neighbourhoods were promised a radical makeover, Sheffield Council has admitted it’s time to go back to the drawing board. The masterplan for the regeneration of Gleadless Valley, which was only finalised after years of back-and-forth in September 2022, is no longer an achievable dream. 

What was promised: The original Gleadless Valley Masterplan detailed plans to build 109 new houses and apartments, refurbish more than 600 homes and either replace or remodel other existing council housing. Residents were also told that the council would build new green spaces and play areas, spruce up shop fronts, create a new community space for elderly people and help local residents land jobs and apprenticeships. Of these goals, it was the promise of better housing that most excited people, given how run-down the estate has become since it was first built more than 60 years ago. 

What happened next: Not a lot. According to the council, a combination of a rapid increase in the cost of building post-pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and the effect of the war in Ukraine meant the money it had set aside to revamp Gleadless Valley was no longer anywhere near enough. In 2021, the budget for the project was £94 million but, by March 2022, this sum had already risen to £100m. Now, the council estimates it could cost as much as £195m to get the job done. At a meeting of the council’s housing committee in December 2023, committee chair Cllr Douglas Johnson admitted rapid inflation had left the future of the project highly uncertain. “We can’t give dates for the start of work, never mind the finish dates,” he told his fellow councillors. 

What has been delivered: While the answer from many Gleadless Valley residents might be “nothing,” the council is keen to stress that it has still achieved some small-scale victories so far. In the last year, it demolished a former care home to make way for housing, redeveloped a playing field and progressed “towards delivery” of a new green space. In response to a backlog of repairs building up in housing the council had originally planned to knock down, it has also established a “task force” to get these resolved as soon as possible. Last year, the BBC spoke to a resident living in a flat covered in black mould, which the council had failed to fix despite her reporting it and which a senior council officer acknowledged was “horrendous”.

The damage done: As Dan discovered this January, the biggest thing the council has managed to knock down so far is local residents’ faith in the regeneration. Debra, the landlady at The Blackstock pub, told Dan she understood inflation had made the project more expensive but couldn’t understand why the council didn’t at least start some of the work. “Every six months people come round and say these are the plans but then you don’t hear anything. You just get disheartened because nothing happens.” In a press release last week, council leader Tom Hunt acknowledged that residents who had been promised new or improved homes “will be feeling frustrated” at the lack of progress, but insisted a “new approach” would be able to get things moving. 

Regenerating the regeneration: On Thursday, councillors on the strategy and resources policy committee will be asked to agree to spend £662,300 and the next year updating the Gleadless Valley Masterplan. If agreed, residents living in blocks originally earmarked for demolition or remodelling will be informed that these plans could change. However, a report prepared for this meeting notes that simply scaling back the plans to fit the original budget “would fail to deliver meaningful change for Gleadless Valley residents”. Instead, the council plans to seek funding from “strategic partners and patient investors” to make something closer to its original aims possible. 

What’s next: The upgraded masterplan will prioritise essential works that can be achieved quickly, while the council plans to engage with the community to rebuild trust in the project. Residents can expect to be consulted on plans for their homes in the spring and summer next year. However, refurbishment work won’t begin until spring of 2026, while the construction of new-build housing has been delayed until 2027.

Our take: When it comes to complex regeneration projects and fistfights, the same maxim holds true for both — don’t start something you’re not sure you can finish. While residents’ frustration that the council didn’t at least get some work done with the money it had is understandable, it would have been far harder to change course on a project that had stalled halfway through. It’ll be interesting to see what external funding the council manages to secure, and how many compromises it has to make compared to the original vision. The hardest part, however, will be getting residents invested in the project once more. 

Coming up

This week, we’ll be sending out two more editions of The Tribune. In the first, which only paying members can read in full, Dan investigates some highly concerning behaviour from local Conservatives. In the second, freelancer Carey Davies, who you may remember from his phenomenal piece on Millstone Grit, is writing about another fascinating aspect of local nature. If you want to support our work, become a full-fledged Tribune subscriber today — it costs just £1.71 a week or a mere 24p a day (about one sip’s worth of a decent coffee) if you pay for 12 months up front.

This week’s weather 🌦️

Our weather forecast comes from dedicated Sheffield weather service Steel City Skies, who say it’ll be a warmer week overall, albeit with a few showers at times. 

Tuesday 🌦 Dry for most of the day with bright spells. A risk of showery rain as a front approaches by late afternoon. Warm and windy from the southwest. 23°C.

Wednesday 🌦 The warmest day of the week, with a few showers likely but also some pleasant spells of sunshine. Lighter breezes from the south. 25°C.

Thursday ⛅ Pressure building from the south with fresh westerly winds, pleasant spells of sunshine and a thin scattering of light showers. Highs of 21°C.

Friday ⛅ Again, a chance of a shower otherwise many areas dry and bright with some sunshine. Light to moderate westerly winds and highs of 20°C.

Weekend: More likely to be a dry and warm weekend as high pressure builds from the south and west. Lighter winds and sunny spells for many.

To see the full forecast and keep up to date with any changes to the outlook, follow Steel City Skies on Facebook.

Our media picks 🔗

Scale of Rotherham abuse shocked man who exposed it 🗞️ Speaking on the 10th anniversary of the infamous 2014 Jay Report — the inquiry that revealed the scale of the Rotherham grooming gangs scandal — the journalist who first exposed the problem said he had vastly underestimated how many children were affected. "If you’d asked me the day before that press conference how many young teenage girls had been groomed and exploited in Rotherham over the time period the report covered, I would have guessed 150,” Times reporter Andrew Norfolk told the BBC. Norfolk first received a tip-off about the abuse in 2011 and said that hearing the then-leader of Rotherham Council admit that his reporting had forced them to commission the inquiry was “vindication” for his 35-year career in journalism.

Boy, 17, who attacked young girl and two staff at Sheffield school jailed 🏫 On 1 May, Louis Melotte posted on social media that he was going “to do what God Almighty thinks is necessary” before going to his former school, Birley Academy, and attacking a 12-year-old girl with a piece of broken glass. Melotte, who had previously shared white supremacist material and was suffering from psychosis at the time, was sentenced last week to five years in youth detention, with an extended five year licence period. At his sentencing, the judge praised a youth worker and receptionist who rushed to the girl’s aid, telling one: "That's a courageous thing to do, a really courageous thing to do, and you should be really proud of yourself, because you made a difference.”

Farm attraction saved by move to theme park 🦙 In far less grim news, a popular local attraction has been saved at the eleventh hour. The owners of Mayfield Alpacas Animal Farm, home to not only the titular alpacas but a wide range of farm and exotic animals, thought their days were numbered when their landlord put the site up for sale in November, since they couldn’t afford to buy it themselves. Co-owner Andrew Jonas said he and his wife Keeley were looking to rehome the animals and find new jobs when they were offered a new home at Gulliver's Valley theme park in Rotherham, where they will start welcoming guests from 10th September. 

Home of the week 🏡

This “contemporary townhouse” in Little Kelham is now on sale for around £400,000, boasting two private outdoor terraces and access to a large communal garden. Over four storeys, it offers three bedrooms and two bathrooms, plus an open-plan kitchen and living room. Find out more here.

Tribune tips: If you want to tell us about a story or give us some information, please email editor@sheffieldtribune.co.uk. We are always happy to speak to people off the record, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity.

Things to do 📆

Theatre 🎭 Ever heard of the show Hamilton? Shamilton is like that, but…better! Expect the same level of hip-hop, incredible songs, stunning choreography, and powerhouse singing, except made up on the spot! On Thursday at The Leadmill, join the Shamilton cast as they improvise a musical based on a historical figure of your choosing, from Genghis Khan to Winston Churchill, Paul Hollywood to Kim Kardashian. Tickets £18. Doors open at 7.30pm.

Music 🎸 From Thursday to Saturday, Don Valley Bowl will be transformed into the Rock and Roll Circus, a three day festival of great music and top circus acts. Tickets are £60-£65 for a single day and £150 for the full three days. Tickets are still available for all three days, as well as full weekend passes. Headlining on Thursday is local legend Richard Hawley, followed by pop sensation Becky Hill on Friday and hometown heroes Milburn on Saturday.

Film 🍿 The first Sheffield Film Festival closes this weekend with a special My Favourite Films night with actress, writer and comedian Lucy Beaumont. Lucy will talk about the films she loves and the influence they have had on her as an artist, before introducing a special double-bill of classic entries into the BBC’s Play for Today series by Mike Leigh: 1976’s Nuts in May and 1977’s Abigail’s Party. Tickets are priced £20 and the evening begins at 6pm.