Campaigners have been waiting generations for kids to be safe on our roads. Is change on its way?

Why striving for children’s safety is grinding down Sheffield parents

Good afternoon members — and welcome to Thursday’s Tribune.

We all know we need to change the way we use our roads. The existential challenge of climate change necessitates it, and a shift away from the car would have an important impact on our collective health as well. But our obsession with motor traffic has other, more direct, consequences as well. It’s not a well known fact that Sheffield has one of the worst road safety records in the country, especially for our city’s children. But why is this and what can we do about it? David Bocking reports.

Editor’s note: This edition is written for our members but non-members are also being sent the first section. The Tribune is entirely funded by our members and we still need many more subscriptions to become a news source that can serve Sheffield for years to come. Join us as a paid member today to get the full story below and all our members-only journalism.

Last chance 🎄 As you may know, we’ve pieced together a gorgeous Northern prose bundle for the Christmas season. We will be sending a free copy of North Country: An anthology of landscape and nature (worth £14.99 - a book that is absolutely replete with beautiful writing and even more beautiful vistas of Northern landscapes) and a personal Christmas card from the team to anyone who either buys an annual gift subscription or buys an annual membership by Thursday (December 15th). The book contains pieces by writers from across the North including our regular contributor Dani Cole, Sheffield’s Sally Goldsmith and the “Bard of Barnsley”, Ian McMillan. Don’t miss out! Get your subscription today.

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News round-up

🏗️ Plans for an upstairs bar at the new Container Park on Fargate have been abandoned due to spiralling costs, reports David Walsh in The Star. The Hide bar was meant to open in November but will not now open before the containers are moved in February. Mea culpa: The Tribune thought the containers were a good idea, but we have to accept that they have been a total disaster. Hopefully, in time, a more appropriate place can be found for them.

🇺🇦 Slightly more positive news coming out of the council is that Sheffield could soon have a new twin city in Ukraine. In June this year, Khmelnytskyi, a city in the west of Ukraine, contacted Sheffield to discuss the possibility of a twinning arrangement. At yesterday’s full council meeting, the mayor of Khmelnytskyi presented Sheffield Lord Mayor Sioned-Mair Richards with a Ukrainian flag signed by troops from the frontline of their war with Russia.

🌳 An artist has been chosen to design and construct a permanent city centre Covid memorial sculpture, the council has announced. The sculpture will be located in Balm Green Gardens and be in place next spring. Architect and sculptor George King submitted what was called a “positive and confident application”, with his design chosen out of 14 entries that were submitted. He will use stainless steel to create a design based on a willow tree.

Things to do

🎻 Take a break from Christmas shopping for an hour and escape into the candlelit warmth of Sheffield Cathedral for some festive music, a glass of something mulled and a mince pie or two in the company of the Brigantes Orchestra. Their “Winter Warmer” concert will include Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker and Ottorino Respighi’s The Adoration of the Magi, as well as Christmas carols and other festive music. Doors open at 4pm and tickets are priced £17.50.

🪵 A special Christmas Collier’s Market takes place this Saturday and Sunday at the Woodland Discovery Centre in Ecclesall Woods. As well as celebrating the heritage and history of the woodland, the market will feature street food, handpicked craft makers, award winning street food traders and delicious drinks. This month’s Pollen Market also takes place this Sunday, although this weekend it will be held at the Peddler Warehouse in Neepsend. 

🍿 Despite the fact it touches on some pretty difficult themes, Frank Capra’s 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life is many people’s favourite film to watch over the festive period (ok, it’s my favourite Christmas film). For others, The Muppet Christmas Carol is their go-to movie for this time of year. Either way, the Showroom has got both groups of film-lovers covered over the next week as they are showing both films every day from tomorrow until Christmas Eve.

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By David Bocking

At the tail end of November, a nine-year-old child was hit by a car at the junction between Hanover Way and Broomspring Lane in Sheffield. Tragedy can be a banal thing — it's not always the downfall of kings, as in Shakespeare plays. Often it's a blind spot, a person driving in bad weather, someone driving when tired. Thankfully in this case, there was a happyish ending — the child was taken to the hospital with nothing more serious suspected than a broken leg. They were lucky. The next child might not be.

Because if you walk round Sheffield's older residential streets, you might steadily grow aware of a soundtrack: the screeches and the steady hum of accelerating cars, rocketing down narrow roads built when motoring was more a novelty than a necessity.

Such drivers may not be thinking about Sheffield’s appalling child road casualty figures.