500 signatures reached
To: Sheffield City Council
Stop the new dual carriageway in Sheffield
Plans in the Draft Development Framework show a new dual carriageway from Park Square to Granville Square, along the current route of the tram tracks through Sheaf Valley Park. This will bring dangerous pollution and noise closer to the residents of Park Hill and Norfolk Park, ruin Sheaf Valley Park, make the Amphitheatre (see photo) unuseable and encourage people to drive more in a time of climate emergency. The £1.5 billion project does very little to improve the local transport system. Sheffield City Council must re-think these plans to avoid any new road building.
Why is this important?
A new dual carriageway is being proposed, to run from Park Square to Granville Square, behind the station through Sheaf Valley Park. It is part of a £1.5 billion scheme to develop the Sheaf Valley area of the city centre.
City planners have had the gall to proclaim that this will help meet our climate targets! Although the aims for pedestrianised streets and better public transport to the front of the station are laudable, to say that a new road will reduce emissions is laughable. The carbon footprint of the building plans will be humungous. The construction industry accounts for an incredible 36% of worldwide energy usage, and 40% of our CO2 emissions. Swopping the tram tracks for dual carriageway behind the station and vice versa in front of the station will be massively expensive in terms of money, carbon emissions and disruption to the public, but will give no real improvement to the transport system. Demolishing the relatively new Cross Turner Street car park, only to rebuild it at Granville Square, is wasteful not only in money but in the carbon already embodied in the building.
Any big transport plan should encourage drivers to opt for less polluting means of transport, be it tram, bus, train, bike or walking. This plan will encourage drivers to drive more.
Residents in Park Hill and Norfolk Park will be faced with the pollution and noise from the new road. Sheffield Station is one of the most polluted places in the country, especially for Nitrogen Dioxide as the diesel fumes from the trains and taxis combine with the road traffic. NO2 is responsible for increasing lung problems, asthma, cancer and stillbirths. Moving the road may transfer some of this pollution away from the front of the station, but it will be closer to the residents of Park Hill and Norfolk Park. A sensible solution would stop the pollution, not move it from one place to another.
The new road will cut deep into Sheaf Valley Park, presumably taking out many of the trees that have been planted in recent years. It will ruin the Amphitheatre, as the road will be so close to it that audiences will no longer be able to hear the performers. Now the survival of theatres is seriously threatened, this outdoor performing space should be greatly valued. Open-air performances are far safer than in the theatres.
The scheme is being proposed to accommodate the hugely destructive HS2 project. This is set to destroy 108 ancient woodlands and almost 700 wildlife sites. As well as costing the UK taxpayer well over £200 billion, the high-speed rail project is causing extensive and irreversible damage to the environment and will be a vast new source of carbon emissions for at least the next 120 years. The money would be far better spent on improving local transport, making it sensible for commuters to leave their cars at home. Don’t let HS2 ruin Sheaf Valley Park.
References
Plans
http://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/documents/s38895/Midland%20Station%20Development%20Framework%20Summary.pdf
The construction industry accounts for an incredible 36% of worldwide energy usage, and 40% of CO2 emissions.
https://www.british-assessment.co.uk/insights/what-is-sustainable-construction-and-why-is-it-important/
Recycle and reuse buildings to curb climate change, the report insists
https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2020/02/recyle-and-reuse-buildings-to-curb-climate-change-report-insists/
Government Committee on the Medical effects of Air Pollutants
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/411756/COMEAP_The_evidence_for_the_effects_of_nitrogen_dioxide.pdf.
Amphitheatre
https://twitter.com/FOSVPSheffield/status/757253987175428096
HS2 Rebellion
https://hs2rebellion.earth/
Stop HS2
http://stophs2.org/facts
Cabinet Minutes (see point 18)
http://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/documents/s40542/Minutes%2018032020%20Cabinet.pdf
City planners have had the gall to proclaim that this will help meet our climate targets! Although the aims for pedestrianised streets and better public transport to the front of the station are laudable, to say that a new road will reduce emissions is laughable. The carbon footprint of the building plans will be humungous. The construction industry accounts for an incredible 36% of worldwide energy usage, and 40% of our CO2 emissions. Swopping the tram tracks for dual carriageway behind the station and vice versa in front of the station will be massively expensive in terms of money, carbon emissions and disruption to the public, but will give no real improvement to the transport system. Demolishing the relatively new Cross Turner Street car park, only to rebuild it at Granville Square, is wasteful not only in money but in the carbon already embodied in the building.
Any big transport plan should encourage drivers to opt for less polluting means of transport, be it tram, bus, train, bike or walking. This plan will encourage drivers to drive more.
Residents in Park Hill and Norfolk Park will be faced with the pollution and noise from the new road. Sheffield Station is one of the most polluted places in the country, especially for Nitrogen Dioxide as the diesel fumes from the trains and taxis combine with the road traffic. NO2 is responsible for increasing lung problems, asthma, cancer and stillbirths. Moving the road may transfer some of this pollution away from the front of the station, but it will be closer to the residents of Park Hill and Norfolk Park. A sensible solution would stop the pollution, not move it from one place to another.
The new road will cut deep into Sheaf Valley Park, presumably taking out many of the trees that have been planted in recent years. It will ruin the Amphitheatre, as the road will be so close to it that audiences will no longer be able to hear the performers. Now the survival of theatres is seriously threatened, this outdoor performing space should be greatly valued. Open-air performances are far safer than in the theatres.
The scheme is being proposed to accommodate the hugely destructive HS2 project. This is set to destroy 108 ancient woodlands and almost 700 wildlife sites. As well as costing the UK taxpayer well over £200 billion, the high-speed rail project is causing extensive and irreversible damage to the environment and will be a vast new source of carbon emissions for at least the next 120 years. The money would be far better spent on improving local transport, making it sensible for commuters to leave their cars at home. Don’t let HS2 ruin Sheaf Valley Park.
References
Plans
http://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/documents/s38895/Midland%20Station%20Development%20Framework%20Summary.pdf
The construction industry accounts for an incredible 36% of worldwide energy usage, and 40% of CO2 emissions.
https://www.british-assessment.co.uk/insights/what-is-sustainable-construction-and-why-is-it-important/
Recycle and reuse buildings to curb climate change, the report insists
https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2020/02/recyle-and-reuse-buildings-to-curb-climate-change-report-insists/
Government Committee on the Medical effects of Air Pollutants
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/411756/COMEAP_The_evidence_for_the_effects_of_nitrogen_dioxide.pdf.
Amphitheatre
https://twitter.com/FOSVPSheffield/status/757253987175428096
HS2 Rebellion
https://hs2rebellion.earth/
Stop HS2
http://stophs2.org/facts
Cabinet Minutes (see point 18)
http://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/documents/s40542/Minutes%2018032020%20Cabinet.pdf
