I’ve had a chance now to look at the leaflet that has gone out regarding the Hillsborough Residents Parking scheme - here are copies for you to have a look at.

Hillsborough Parking Leaflet

Hillsborough Parking Response Form

I think residents are upset about the phrase:

“The results of this survey will be presented to Councillors who will decide on what kind of permit parking scheme will be developed.”

Perhaps in hindsight that should have said “what kind of permit parking scheme will be developed if any“.

So just to clear a few things up:

No decision has been made on a parking scheme - that’s why the Council is doing a consultation.

The map on the leaflet isn’t a map of the parking scheme. It’s just a map  of the areas that have received this leaflet.

If you don’t want your street to be part of any parking scheme - just return the response form and tick No to Q2:

Q2 Do you think the parking situation in the area could be improved by the introduction of a permit parking scheme as described in the leaflet? (Please tick one box only)

I know that there are a lot of residents who do want a parking scheme - but it won’t be the right solution for all areas. That’s why this consultation is important.

The results will be counted and tallied so make sure you have your say - whether you feel strongly one way or the other.

Some residents in the Middlewood area have contacted me in a state of some annoyance about the Residents’ Parking leaflet they have had from the Council. I’m not surprised!

Apparently (I’ve not seen a copy yet) this leaflet asks “what kind of residents parking scheme” people would prefer. People have told me it gives the impression that permit parking on their street is a foregone conclusion. This is not the case.

The consultation is also to find out whether you want permit parking on your street or not. I’m aware that lots of residents in the area won’t want it on their street. The leaflet has been deliberately sent to a wider area than we will expect any  parking scheme to cover - better to cast a wider net and find out exactly what the extent of the demand is.

I’m really cross that a leaflet has gone out giving the impression that it’s a foregone conclusion. I will be asking the Highways Department for their comments.

(click here to see full set of images)

For days now the dramatic river works at Malin Bridge have been drawing large crowds who have come down to see the diggers at work.

The Environment Agency are dredging silt and removing trees from the river bank, in order to prevent the sort of flooding that we saw in the summer of 2007.

The work has certainly changed the whole look of the area. Until very recently it was difficult to see the two bridges at all, as the area was overgrown with self-seeding trees.

Now there is a huge open space where you can see both bridges and the confluence of the rivers Loxley and Rivelin. It has opened up views that haven’t been seen for many, many years.

I finally managed to make it down there today to look at what has been done so far. Cllr Penny Baker (Walkley) and I had a chat with some of the local residents who had come down to watch.

Local residents watching the diggers at work

It has certainly inspired a lot of ideas about what should happen next, so have your say in the comments!

I posted yesterday about Council officers’ proposed closure of Leppings Lane on Sheffield Wednesday match days.

I have been receiving a few comments on Facebook about this - here is a taster:

“say no!!!! Can’t have just Bradfield road to get from Penistone Road to Hillsborough. Totally insane proposal”

“What an awful idea!”

“Total madness !!”

I can’t say I’m surprised - as a local resident I would find this a pain as sometimes I do need to drive down Leppings Lane on match days.

I have posted this on Sheffield Forum so you can also join the debate there - but I remain very, very skeptical about the proposals, and even more so after the comments above!

UPDATE: I have just looked at the plans and noticed that this also involves closing Catch Bar Lane between Middlewood Road and Parkside Road. This seems very unwise to me!

UPDATE 2:  Anyone wishing to object to these proposals can do so by writing to:

Les Sturch, Director of Development Services, 2-10 Carbrook Hall Road, Sheffield S9 2DB

or e-mailing les.sturch@sheffield.gov.uk.

Council officers have come to me with a proposal to close Leppings Lane to cars on match days.

The proposal is for an experimental order closing Leppings Lane to traffic before, during and after Sheffield Wednesday home games.

The idea is to make it safer for fans on foot and to make it easier to police the matches.

I want to know what you think about this - either let me know by clicking the Comments button or by using the feedback form on the left hand side of the screen.

Today Cllr Steve Ayris and I met with David Stump and Steve Fiddes from Hillsborough Bowling Club.

Their bowling shelter at the pavilion in Hillsborough Park has had the roof blow off twice due to some problems with the design.

This has been a problem since it was build three years ago and has never been resolved. Naturally they are quite frustrated at how long this has taken, and Steve and I have agreed to take up the problem for them.

I am also dealing with some issues with the green at Middlewood Bowling Club that I will post about on another occasion.

Do you have any thoughts on the bowling facilities in Hillsborough Ward? If so, post your thoughts in the comments below!

I have just had some feedback from CE Electric on this issue.

There is still an outstanding fault on the network which they are hoping to repair soon. However, power has been restored to all homes in the area and hopefully the fault can be repaired without any further outages.

I have just been passed the following message from Street Force about upcoming resurfacing work on Taplin Road - this will involve some temporary road closures:

Street Force will shortly be carrying out carriageway resurfacing work on Taplin Road , Beechwood Road and Haden Street

To carry out the works safely and as quickly as possible it will be necessary to implement various traffic management arrangements that will include road closures.

Work will be undertaken in stages to minimise disruption and will be carried out in the following sequence.

Sunday 16th August: Taplin Road closed from Middlewood Road to Hawthorne Road.

Monday 17th August: Taplin Road closed from Hawthorne road to Oakland Road.

Tuesday 18th August: Beechwood Road closed from Holme lane to Hunter Road and Haden street from Taplin Road to Holme Lane

Wednesday 19th August: Taplin Road closed from Hawthorne road to Oakland Road

Thursday 20th August: Beechwood Road closed from Holme lane to Hunter Road and Haden street from Holme Lane to Taplin Road

We would also appreciate your assistance in ensuring that any vehicles that are usually parked on the road at these locations are parked elsewhere during these times.

Hopefully this work will be carried out without too much disruption and it will make Taplin Road safer for drivers and pedestrians. However, if you are having any problems with any of this work, please use my contact form to let me know about it.

Large parts of Hillsborough are currently without power due to a fault with CE Electric.

I have reported this to CE Electric - they can’t tell me how long it will take to fix but hopefully it won’t take too long!

(Hopefully those of you with smartphones can still read this!)

Update: Power is now back on in at least part of the ward.