How does your neighbourhood grow?

Sheffield City Council is currently talking to people about the part of the Sheffield Development Framework that looks at City Policies and Sites. This focuses on places in Sharrow in a lot more detail and so will impact on the day to day life. These include:



• Residential (Housing, flats etc) no longer being an acceptable use of the ground floor units along London Road District Centre. This is so that it is retained as shops, restaurants and takeaways, drawing people in to the area and serving the needs of local people.



• Abbeydale Road will be contracted into three smaller neighbourhood centres rather than running the full length of the road. This will offer the potential for residential uses between these sections of shops .



• Shoreham Street and Worstenholme Road would not be designated as neighbourhood centres. This is due to National Planning Policy which states that “small parades of Shops of purely neighbourhood significance are not regarded as centres”.



• The Lower Porter Valley area would have a preferred use of Offices.



• Guernsey Road area and the Queens Road corridor is proposed for a flexible range of
employment uses with housing no longer accepted.



• The John Street area would be subdivided into two mixed use areas with a respective bias towards housing for the John Street Triangle Conservation Area and Offices for the area along Bramall Lane. This would mean that general industry and warehouses would no longer be accepted. This would have an impact on sites such as Stag andPortland Works .



• Protection is given to historic cemeteries as well as parks and gardens, this means the General Cemetery and St Mary’s Church.



• Gateways to the city centre will be improved. The policies at the moment specify that this will be to create striking tall buildings at the ring road .



It is currently possible to comment on these proposals and to view them on the proposals map. This can be accessed at www.sheffield.gov.uk/sdfconsult .



For more info see: Sharrow Today issue August 2010 page 8.

Art Trail: Call for facilitators

We are hosting Sheffield Hallam Student Volunteers next month. Their brief will be to create an art trail throughout sharrow...

The workshops will be held on Friday 19th Feb and Friday 26th Feb from 12.30pm... We are currently looking for volunteers to help facilitate...

Our aims for the project are that:

1. The students find out more about the area- and therefore may be more likely to come here/ think more positively about what sharrow has to offer...
2. They draw people who live, work and play in sharrows attention to aspects of sharrow that excite them/inspire them and/or are critical of things- so perhaps comment on the way space is used/ link places together...
3. They have to talk to local businesses/ people at the potential locations of the signs and so converstaions start and negotioations start... people start talking about the area and what is distinctive/ important
3. We create a map of their signs and distribute it around schools/ shops/ local people/ students and get poeple walking aorund at looking at sharrow more generally...

We need facilitators for the two workshops- the first would be presenting the area/ themes in the brief and going for a walk around with the students, provoking them, getting then to look at/ know the area better... then help them to come back and discuss ideas for their groups signs... and begin to design them...

The second workshop would be the making of the signs... we have some bought materials as we have fairly substantial pot of money (about £400) and also will hope to salvage materials etc...

The students could also have a small budget per group (from hallam) of about £40 to buy extras if they needed them...

We are expecting 40-50 students to attend and i thought that they could form 8 groups of 5 students (two groups per theme and area- 'create'- the john street triangle... 'play'- the parks and schools, 'gather'... the community buildings (inc sufc!) and 'trade'- london road area)...

I think it is important for the facilitators to push with how the students would interpret these themes... and get them to be as creative as possible... (so play could be about lots of things- a full page of defintions according to the online dictionary- i like Quick, often irregular movement or action, especially of light or color: the play of color on iridescent feathers.)

so please drop me a line at sharrow_action@hotmail.com if you might like to be involved...

London Road Empty Shop Project Meeting

Hello
For those involoved with the London Road empty shop art project there is a meeting on Wednesday 14th 6pm at the Action Group headquarters.

We will discuss:

- The possibilities of producing a rolling programme of events over the course of one/two months, as the amount of shops we secure may be small.

- Possibilities of linking the project in some way with other projects using vacant spaces around the city.

- Titles!

- Updates from Sheffield Showcase tour and other meetings/advice.

- What we are all able to offer and set a timescale.


Thanks! Looking forward to seeing you there.

Charlotte

Empty Shops and Rates

Need to understand and explain rates and empty shops? Rates Matrix available for download now!

http://www.meanwhile.org.uk/9.html

The good news is that there can be up to 100% discount on rates for shops used for 'meanwhile' community uses... This is however, discretionary and so we would have to discuss it with the council...

Meanwhile space offer financial support for projects and this is the form we would need to fill in: http://www.meanwhile.org.uk/resources/Project+overview+template.doc

Does anyone want to give this a go?

streets in sharrrow?...

ideas for greening streets... stolen from sheffield univeristy architecture students...

Empty Shops: Letters to landlords

I have now sent out the above letter to landlords for vacant retail units on London Road and Abbeydale Road. We will contact them early next week to try to confirm the scale of the proposed festival. It is hoped that once the number of units is ascertained we can really get going!

flags-good news

The flags are going up today!

Splashes of culture along london road

Flags are being put up on London road this week to celebrate our community, our local shops, organizations and such, that are placed along this road. It should 'brighten up the place' also as they have been designed by local people and youth they should and hopefully will be more appreciated. With Jazzy logo's, font and pictures they will add a certain something and make our already well rounded area seem more whole and cultural. Also it is a good chance to show the artistic side of the locals and a welcoming site to visitors. It also expresses the more secluded art that seem to be hidden on London road, showing that there are many people and hidden talents beneath the well-rounded community.

word on the street

Masterplan for Lloyds Corner

This is a plan of action for Sheffield City Council produced by Distinctive Sharrow Action Group to help them make decision on how to improve Lloyd’s Corner for the benefit of local people, ensuring it is placed in context with other local community buildings.

(please click on images to enlarge)

Empty Shop Fronts: minutes May 2009

The minutes of this meeting have now been removed. Please contact the action group at sharrow_action@hotmail.com if you would like a copy of these minutes

Thriving Centres

This summer Sheffield City Council are starting research for the ‘Thriving Centres’ initiative where they will look at district and local centres throughout the city. The project will consider how social, economic and physical factors contribute to the creation of vibrant and distinctive places for people to live work and play in.

In Sharrow's case, this will include London Road and an area 400m surrounding this.

Community consultation events will be run during the summer, so if you would like to be involved or know more, please contact Julia Udall at julia@sharrowcf.org.uk

Maps show area to be considered by Thriving Centres in the Sharrow neighbourhood. Please click to enlarge.

Lloyds Corner Brief

‘Lloyds Corner’ is a highly visible small urban space, which currently doesn’t have a strong identity or design. However, local people have identified that it has potential to contribute to the quality of the public realm and the community life.

The Action Group has currently commissioned two projects, the first being Community design flags for sites along London Road, the district centre. The second project is a ‘Welcome to Sharrow’ signpost, the project launch for which was celebrated with giant lanterns as part of the annual lantern festival.

Project aims and objectives:
• Regenerate this key public open space in London Road
• Contribute to making visible the identity of Sharrow
• Engage local people with their urban environment.

For a full copy of brief, plese contact Julia Udall on julia@sharrowcf.org.uk .

Lloyds Corner Brief

The Lloyds Corner Brief has now been drafted by the Distinctive Sharrow Action Group and will now be discussed with Sheffield City Council Officers. To obtain an electronic copy of this draft email Julia Udall at julia@sharrowcf.org.uk.

good news !

The planning application for flags on London Road has been granted by Development, Environment and Leisure services. The flags will be at 154, 160, 186, 232-234, 280, 173-175, 187-189, 195, 207, 239 and 253 London Road, Sheffield. The permission will last for 5 years from 27/2/2009- 22/4/2014.

The flags will be put up around the the time of the Sharrow Festival in July. So look out for them!

Empty Shop Fronts?

Would it be possible to use the empty shop fronts on London Road to display local artists work?

This could benefit the landlords by improving the appearance of the shops, yet not use floor space so that it is still in an appropriate state to rent out... This is not a new idea... http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/feb/18/slack-space-vacant-shops http://blog.ivanpope.com/awol/2009/02/art-into-recess.html

...could we liaise between the landlords/ their agents and local artists... this could even be through a lonely hearts/ lonely windows style website where windows are matched with artists...?

Lloyds Corner

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=37.09024,-95.712891&spn=47.167389,92.8125&z=4&om=1&layer=c&utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-google-svn&utm_medium=ha

Flag workshops Jan- March 09

Creative Action Network have been going to local community groups and clubs to encourage the partciapants to put into pictures and words what they think makes a good community. We have been from the children's libraray to Abbeydale Grange, Highfields Adventure Playground to Sure Start and had a really lovely time meeting new people and getting an undertsanding of what people think of Sharrow.

There are lots of pictures of the park, the mosque and the library, but what was most interesting were the symbols people used to express their views. Hands, jigsaw puzzles and back to back houses expressed the unity and diversity that people feel gives Sharrow a great sense of community.

Rave Against Racism: From P.A.

Hi,

Jamie 'Headcharge' contacted me asking if the Rave Against Racism logo could be incorporated into designs for the London Rd flags project - I said Id see what people thought and get back to him.

Attached is the logo I think we could incorporate the logo, but am wary of what this might open up - ie. Do we then promote other community/asctivist groups, organisations? Appreciate your responses - and I will reply to Jamie.

Thanks,

Patrick

Comments please? Thanks

Flags Update: London Road

Lantern making workshops

Flags- mock up idea for design..

In spring next year, flags, designed in workshops run by CAN, (who run the Lantern Festival Workshops http://www.creativeaction.net/), will be hoisted on buisnesses at the top of London Road.

The workshops will run early next year in venues around Sharrow. If you would like to be involved in the making workshops, or you have a business on London Road and would be intertested in hoisting a flag, please contact either Julia Udall at Sharow Community Forum: julia@sharrowcf.org.uk or Lu Golob at CAN sharrowlanterncarnival@hotmail.co.uk.