Sheffield Council leader says “it’s time to talk city up” as new developments take shape

Coun Tom Hunt made the call at a meeting of Sheffield City Council (July 5), where his deputy Coun Fran Belbin urged councillors to “be Team Sheffield”.

LibDem councillors said they share the Labour leadership’s pride in the city but prefer to act as “critical friends” and Green members stressed the need for collaborative action on issues such as tackling racism and climate change.

Coun Hunt spoke about “hugely positive developments” such as the plan for the Cole Brothers store which will “breathe new life back into the much-loved building on Barkers Pool, the Heart of the City developments including the opening of Pounds Park, the significant progress at West Bar and plans for Castlegate”. He said that developers want to be part of the city.

Other schemes he listed included the £100 million investment in leisure and entertainment venues across the city at a time when they are closing elsewhere, a new low-carbon neighbourhood to be built at Attercliffe Waterside, Family Hubs that are one-stop shops to support children and young people and the city’s inclusion in Prince William’s Homewards project to reduce homelessness.

Coun Hunt referred to the prince’s recent visit to the Rise Up Youth project in Burngreave that was hosted by his colleague Coun Safiya Saeed.

He also mentioned the promotion of both Sheffield football teams.

‘Work collaboratively’

Coun Hunt proposed a motion to the meeting that he said is “reaffirming to serve the people of Sheffield, to work collaboratively and to focus on the people’s priorities, to provide help to people with the cost-of-living crisis, to fix our public transport, to secure new investment, create new jobs and grow our economy, to invest in our neighbourhoods, to tackle the climate emergency and to ensure that we do politics in an open and inclusive way”.

He added: “Sheffield is changing for the better, with support from our members from across this chamber it will continue to get better. It’s time to talk Sheffield up, not talk it down.”

Coun Belbin said that the Future Sheffield project referred in the motion is the council’s change programme: “It’s in the process of being designed in order to achieve culture change across the council, to improve our performance, to build and strengthen our connections to communities and our other partners and it will mean better outcomes for our citizens.”

She urged councillors to support the motion and “be Team Sheffield”.