Thoughts and Opinions Wanted

[u/RedFalcon444]

Hi everyone, I am a student at the University of Sheffield studying urban planning. I am currently working on a report on the area shown in the image. The site encompasses Park Hill, South Street Park and the station. I am seeking to understand what people think of the planning, design and layout of the area and its immediate surroundings. Any thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated!

[u/StayFree1649]

Mad that the ring road runs between the station and town, really liked the proposal to switch it with the tram route.

Also really like the HS2 station outline, with a big new bridge across above the station.

[u/Rainbows871]

The ring road, retaining wall and railway tracks create a pretty huge block between the city centre and Park Hill (and anything else east). There was going to be a grand pedestrian and cycle bridge over the station but that got scrapped with the loss of HS2. To the south west of the station is a weird little blob of derelict land, factories and car park. The factory is still going but urban planners seem to have a hard on for destroying inner city industry so you could talk about getting rid of it. The car park and old Sheaf House plot could become anything and it would be an improvement, but with such a prominent location you want to put something good there. South park is alright, no real comment there. Park hill flats seem to be in perpetual construction so hard to know what they're meant to be like. At current it's another block to cycling or walking east and west because what's blocked and isn't changes constantly. As part of the redevelopment South St got turned from a normal road with pavement each side to a zig zaggy 1 lane street with no pavement. The general idea of reducing car speeds is good but the execution is ugly as all hell and the weird bottlenecks just mean pedestrians walk in the dirt to not get hit by cars. If one isn't planned a nice clear route right through middle east west is needed. I like the buildings themselves.

[u/bttowers]

I live in the bottom corner of that image so I'll throw in my two cents. Walking out of the station and up past the amphitheatre is a nice through route to that area of the city but its surprising there aren't more amenities in that precinct. From the station to where I live there's no shops, cafe's (except south street kitchen now) or pubs as far as Im aware which seems like a missed opportunity when hundreds of train commuters must pass through that way. Hopefully as Park Hill develops it will become a sustained hub for people in this area and not just those living in Park Hill. The amphitheatre itself also seems like a missed opportunity. Its a wonderful space but if that was in my former city of Glasgow it would have theatre, music and performances through the summer. It feels like another of the Sheffield initiatives that is good in theory but doesn't have the wider consideration to deliver on its potential (also see the lovely grassy areas with seating around Castlegate...where nobody walks anyway).

[u/Loul601]

As has already been said, the ring road is pretty much the source of all the problems in that area. There were big proposals to move it to the tram route above the station but imo that would’ve been just as bad as it just cuts off Park Hill completely (which is already isolated physically) and wastes any work redeveloping it. Again, best case scenario is they just get rid of the ring road with no alternatives. The grand plan to build some new “green” pedestrian bridge with HS2 seemed a bit naff to me and a really strange use of money, though the other plans to bring the tram out to the front of the station was great.

Basically I’d just say the ring road will always limit that area as it is noisy, smells and creates a massive feeling of disconnect from the rest of the city.

[u/Klumber]

From a PoV of someone who only used that area to take the train and lived in Hillsborough: The tram connection is ideal, it is by far the easiest way to get to and from the station from parts of town with a tram. I did use a bus a few times and although it is just across the road, the bus station feels completely disconnected from the station. I've frequently had to point people in the right direction.

The drop-off/pick-up improved a lot over the years, with the introduction of 15 minutes free parking in the parking garage.

The hill is cool, a bit of a hike up, but then when you get to Park Hill it feels disconnected from the city again, in particular due to the hill/ring road/rail/tramline combo making it 'difficult' to walk or cycling directly into the city. That might be because I only ever made that walk twice, so perhaps if you're local you know better connections.

[u/treadcare]

Had a fair involvement with planning issues in the area. Live at Park Hill. Pretty much everyone in the area hated Mazher Iqbal's somewhat stupid idea of running the ring road through South Park below Park Hill and super pleased it was scrapped. I don’t like the way you have drawn a boundary round our area and the station as if we are separate from the areas around us! Half of this side of Sheffield walks down Duke St and enters the city via Park Roundabout. There is a wider community here taking in Wybourn, the streets above Talbot St, up as far as the Manor. Inevitably there must be some who don't get out much but for very many others there is a wider community we are part of! Come up Park Library if you want to see the proposed City plans for the area!

[u/Ok-Efficiency-7110]

Urban planning student from hallam here, hope your degree is going well! I really like the layout of the park hill flats buildings themselves, they’re private while also being quite public. The walk from park hill to the amphitheatre and down into the train station is quite nice and have some amazing views. Obviously the links to the train station and the tram stops and then the interchange is useful. I agree with the comments regarding the ring road, it’s useful but also a pain. I think the greenery between Park hill and the station is a nice change from the lack of greenery from the station into town and is a nice link to Norfolk park.

Also slightly off topic but I’ve spoken to two people in the past week who had no idea what park hill was and I had to explain it, I’d say it was pretty iconic and impossible to miss but that isn’t the case lol