Save Our Streets

[Planner1]

2 hours ago, Save Our Street said:

No I didn't mean the roads when I spoke about the city centre, I meant that trying to turn a substantial percentage of the buildings into residential use was folly. There are already numerous empty flats in the centre, bought by pension providers, that have never seen tenants, so adding more empty flats to that number will not address the major housing shortage either in Sheffield and around the country. 

 

Yes I do have a problem with 'more effective enforcement of restrictions' when those restrictions will leave swathes of Abbeydale and Ecclesall Roads without parking and mean that shoppers will be deterred from using the businesses on both roads. It is complete madness. As for enforcement and cameras, will that not just be another complete waste of tax payers money, as won't the camera's be monitoring boarded up shops, deserted roads, and empty pavements.

 

I can only assume that you are a council employee, and your response just highlights the problems we are facing.....

I’m not sure what you think the Council can do about the proliferation of city centre flats. Most cities look to have more residential in the city centre as it adds to the vibrancy of the place. It’s the same everywhere.
 

If the area is zoned for residential development there is only so much the council can do to resist an application. In the major retail areas, new developments tend to have retail / hospitality at ground floor level and flats or offices higher up.

 

The camera enforcement will probably be carried out by vehicles that the Council already have. They can only currently use them on school entrances. So they are probably going to be making better use of public money that’s already been spent.

 

Do you not think that changes in the number of customers is more to do with the changes to how people shop and live their lives, with much more now being done online? Plenty of places used to be “thronged” with shoppers, but aren’t anymore, but that isn’t about parking restrictions, it’s just the general trend.

[HeHasRisen]

I cant trust anyone who uses an Outlook email address for a campaign like this tbh, web domains with email cost a couple of quid.

[Annie Bynnol]

5 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

Suppose you could ask what demand was there for out of town folks to go to Worcester, Worcestershire Parkway station is baffling.

    Worcestershire Parkway is on the mainline between Birmingham and Bristol/Cardiff at the point where the Worcester to Oxford/London Paddington crosses. It has very little to do with commuter/shopping access to Worcester as the trains are too infrequent. The statement below refers to the benefits to the rural of county rather than to the city.

     "This scheme will provide sustainable access to regional and national destinations by rail, including the south-west, north-east, London and the Thames Valley. This will significantly enhance Worcestershire's connectivity with the UK's key economies and encourage economic growth and development within the county." Worcestershire County Council

[top4718]

3 hours ago, Planner1 said:

I’m not sure what you think the Council can do about the proliferation of city centre flats. Most cities look to have more residential in the city centre as it adds to the vibrancy of the place. It’s the same everywhere.
 

If the area is zoned for residential development there is only so much the council can do to resist an application. In the major retail areas, new developments tend to have retail / hospitality at ground floor level and flats or offices higher up.

 

The camera enforcement will probably be carried out by vehicles that the Council already have. They can only currently use them on school entrances. So they are probably going to be making better use of public money that’s already been spent.

 

Do you not think that changes in the number of customers is more to do with the changes to how people shop and live their lives, with much more now being done online? Plenty of places used to be “thronged” with shoppers, but aren’t anymore, but that isn’t about parking restrictions, it’s just the general trend.

Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham and Newcastle are (to name but five) this comment is nonsense.

[Longcol]

6 hours ago, Save Our Street said:

I have run businesses for over twenty years on Abbeydale Road, so I'm not blinkered. The last  exercise the council carried out in this area was to remove the parking bays in front of the shops.  What a great idea that was. All it did was increase traffic congestion and deter customers from parking and using the businesses. I don't need research, I have the proof of experience. If you have ventured down Abbeydale Road lately, you will have noticed that hardly any of the businesses open on Monday or Tuesday, some only open at the weekends. The reason for this is because trade has been so decimated over the last decade by ill though out decision making, that the businesses struggle to remain afloat. Red lining the road and restricting parking further will be the death knell. When I set up my business on Abbeydale Road in the late nineties, the road was vibrant and the streets were throng.  So constructively speaking, and unless you have research that disproves my experience, it is you who are blinkered.

Can never remember Abbeydale Road being "throng". Always been way less busy than Ecclesall Road, Woodseats, Hillsborough. Crookes for example.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Longcol

[fools]

4 hours ago, Planner1 said:

Plenty of places used to be “thronged” with shoppers, but aren’t anymore, but that isn’t about parking restrictions, it’s just the general trend.

You've asked them have you?

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Planner1 said:

 

Do you not think that changes in the number of customers is more to do with the changes to how people shop and live their lives, with much more now being done online? Plenty of places used to be “thronged” with shoppers, but aren’t anymore, but that isn’t about parking restrictions, it’s just the general trend.

As others have pointed out, this is a lie. No other major city centre has been emptied like Sheffield.

Apart from Atkinson's, there is no other department store or major retailer.

 

The general trend you talk about has been deliberately created, bit by bit, over a number of years, by you planners.

Just in the same way the roads were left to disintegrate for 50 years before they got repaired and some , are on their way out again now. 

[ECCOnoob]

1 hour ago, Organgrinder said:

As others have pointed out, this is a lie. No other major city centre has been emptied like Sheffield.

Apart from Atkinson's, there is no other department store or major retailer.

 

The general trend you talk about has been deliberately created, bit by bit, over a number of years, by you planners.

Just in the same way the roads were left to disintegrate for 50 years before they got repaired and some , are on their way out again now. 

What are you talking about? No major retailers?

What about Marks and Spencer. TK. Maxx. H&M. Primark. Boots. Sports Direct. USC. Wilkinson. Poundland. B&M. WHSmith....  All of them are national brands if not some international.

 

Thats before we get onto the smaller specialist shops like, shoes, books, telecom, games and scattering of supermarket brands.

 

Yes - we don't have many of the ye olde big department stores anymore, but that's a global downturn, not just unique to Sheffield.  Debenhams has left gaping holes in cities and large towns all over the place.  House of Fraser have been teetering on the edge for the past decade and are still in the process of closing stores elsewhere, including the mighty Leeds and one of their flagship buildings in the centre of Cardiff.  

 

Even the most famous shopping street in the country, Oxford Street, is a shadow of its former self.  Losing it's massive flagship Debenhams building, House of Fraser about to leave Central London altogether, Allders collapsed. BHS collapsed, flagship John Lewis building leasing out it's upper floors to reduce its store size....

 

Put the tin foil hat away. There's no conspiracy. We customers need to accept we are the primary contributor to the declining department stores.  We can't embrace the convenience of online shopping and next day Prime delivery at the same time as bemoaning the loss of extremely expensive, five story retail relic, wastes of prime city real estate.

 

Stores do not make money from streams of customers going in, looking at the pretty decor,  prodding and poking the merchandise before simply going home and ordering something online.

 

Its no coincidence that the stores which are surviving generally have a far lower amount of real estate costs, less branches, more selective product lines and offer a service, style, facilities or attraction which makes people want to visit them.  Good grief. Selfridges in London has a skate park in it.  Harvey Nicholas are famous for their cocktail bars.  Fenwick's have their annual animated window displays and light performances.  John Lewis is converting themselves into becoming house builders, furniture rental services and flower arrangers. 

Even our own Atkinsons plays the gimmicks with their hard sell regarding their independence, their three restaurants and very select range of products tailored very carefully for the local market and constantly updated.

 

In contrast, one of the main problems that Debenhams had, as was mirrored by places such as Sears and even Macy's in America, is that they simply became far too big, far too identikit, far too bland, offering non-discript in house labels at premium prices in dull surroundings and didn't stand a chance. 

 

I would like nothing more than a retailer to take over the old Debenhams unit on the moor and according to rumours in The Star that may be happening, but it has to be something that people are going to want to go shopping for.

 

If we want things to survive, if we want those premium names to take an interest in coming here, it's up to us locals to be actually buying and putting money in the tills not just look at and laugh at the price tags. Not to be hypocritically making pathetic excuses about parking charges or traffic restrictions when the fact is thousands of people still work in town every single day walking past all these shops and even more numbers are now moving back into the city boundaries to live there. 

Edited February 3, 2023 by ECCOnoob

[fools]

Poundland? Why didn't you say before, all I need is a cargo bike and I'm in

[ECCOnoob]

4 minutes ago, fools said:

Poundland? Why didn't you say before, all I need is a cargo bike and I'm in

Yes, very funny.

 

The point is that Poundland is certainly deemed a "major retailer".  The business has near 900 stores and on last reports made nearly £540m despite being in the middle of the 2020 pandemic.

 

That's a level of operation and business some of the premium stores could only dream of.  So despite all the snobiness and mickey taking it gets - plenty of people must be buying in there.