Leopold St and Pinstone St were made motor traffic free last year. The change has improved walking and cycling, reduced air pollution and improved bus times in the city centre.
The plan was to replace these temporary measures with a larger city centre Transforming Cities Fund scheme. This scheme will deliver benefits for people walking and cycling along with public transport users and deliver much needed public realm improvements. The consultation for this was completed in January and the majority of responses were positive.
The temporary changes are due to be discussed at a Sheffield Council scrutiny committee on Thursday the 16th of September and we are now very concerned that these changes may be rolled back and motor traffic reintroduced.
Please can you contact your councillors and ask them to make changes permanent by implementing the TCF scheme? Contacting your councillors is very easy – you can use Writetothem. Please can you also copy in Terry Fox (the leader of Sheffield council) at terry.fox@councillor.sheffield.gov.uk and transport@sheffield.gov.uk to show your support?
We do not believe the city centre scheme can be delivered if motor traffic is restored along this route and as a result significant funding will be lost. The loss of the city centre scheme could impact on the viability of other TCF schemes (as well as some of the Active Travel Fund schemes) which all link into the city scheme. These schemes are vital to deliver improvements for walking and public transport which are badly needed in Sheffield to give people viable alternatives to making their journeys by car.
We are also concerned about the implications for future Department for Transport funding for all transport schemes in Sheffield (not just ‘active travel’ schemes). The DfT has written to councils instructing them not to remove active travel schemes as this would risk future funding. There is more information about this issue here.
