Sheffield’s Local Plan – make your voice heard now!

Public consultation on the new Sheffield Local Plan has now begun and will continue until 20th February. The new plan will guide the city’s development for the next 15 years, and has the potential both to protect and to allow harm to the city’s heritage. The Council need to hear loud and clear from the city’s heritage community that they have to up their game.

To make it easier to comment on this large and complex plan, we’ve identified where your local knowledge can have the most impact.

What makes Sheffield’s heritage distinctive? This is covered by policy D1. You can read our suggestions on how to respond to this policy here.

Protecting heritage on sites allocated for development. There are dozens of sites allocated for uses such as housing and employment, some of which contain heritage that could be lost or damaged if it is not protected by the plan. You can read how to find sites near you and our suggestions on how to respond here.

Other policies that need improvement. We have identified a few other policies of special concern. Just follow the links to read our suggestions for how you can make a difference to them:

• Aligning policies for the green and historic environments (Chapter 8)
• Heritage that is not protected by law (Policy DE9)
• Protecting and encouraging public art (Policy DE8)
• Re-use of buildings and materials (Policy ES1)

JUHS will be submitting a detailed response, and you can read a draft here. If you have any comments, please email info@joinedupheritagesheffield.org.uk – but please also send in your own response to the public consultation. More responses will carry greater weight.

Want more detail? At our last bi-monthly meeting there was a presentation on what the Local Plan is for, how the consultation works, which policies impact heritage and what our main concerns are. Download the slides, or see a recording of the meeting (passcode q@vD1$zJ). The Local Plan presentation begins at 01:04:00.

This will be the last chance for nearly a generation to set the Council’s priorities, and we need to ensure that those priorities include not just protecting heritage but putting it at the city’s heart. Everyone is strongly encouraged to take part.