Residents say planned road changes 'a nightmare'

Residents say council plans to make major changes to roads and transport across busy Sheffield neighbourhoods will be "devastating" and "a nightmare".

Sheffield City Council is consulting on potential widespread highway changes, which would affect Hillsborough, Middlewood, Malin Bridge, Stannington and Walkley.

More than 1,600 residents and businesses have signed a petition against the changes, which include extending the hours of an existing bus and tram gate.

The council has said the proposals will improve reliability and journey times for buses and trams to allow more people to use public transport and "free up space on our roads for people who need to drive".

Proposed changes include extending the operating hours of the existing bus and tram gate at Hillsborough Corner to between 07:00 and 19:00, Monday to Saturday.

Mavis Martin, 74, from Stannington, said changes to the bus and tram gate - which currently operates from 07:00 to 11:00, and again from 15:00 to 19:00, Monday to Saturday - would leave drivers facing a long detour.

"It will take people up Whitehouse Lane, which is a winding old road with a lot of parked cars and school traffic," she said.

"There are older people who need their cars to get about and that bus gate is about half a mile, which someone may have to walk to reach the shops. Hillsborough will be dead.

"Another concern is the businesses on Holme Lane, as the council are going to take away all the parking. Those little side roads are not built for cars, and already have a lot of parked cars.

"There is no joined-up thinking. The council talks about traffic flow, but it doesn't flow, because so many roads are blocked off and traffic is diverted all over. It will be a nightmare."

Neighbours El Massey and Leena Hiscock live on Loxley New Road, in Malin Bridge, and are objecting to plans to send buses down the narrow terraced street.

Massey, 30, said: "Part of the proposal is to relocate a bus stop and route buses down past our homes. We are really concerned about privacy, with having a double-decker bus less than two metres from our windows. There's also the additional noise and air pollution.

"We have several disabled and elderly people on this street who would be greatly affected. We simply do not think the road is wide enough to handle a bus coming down while everyone is parked along here."

Hiscock, 38, said the plans were "impractical" and residents were worried about the weight of heavy buses passing close to their houses.

"We have actually measured the road in several places and at one point it is only five metres wide, and two metres of that is parking bay. The Department for Transport says bus routes should be at least six metres wide.

"The council have proposed this under the guise of efficiency, but it doesn't make any sense. We have traffic lights on the street which are red the majority of the time because of the trams coming.

"A bus is going to come off of the main road, drive 30 seconds down our road then stop at the traffic lights for 10 minutes waiting for the tram."

Susan, 72, contacted BBC Your Voice to say the plans would have a "devastating effect" as traffic would be redirected on to Walkley Road, where she lives.

"Walkley Road is narrow and has a bend at the top and at the bottom making visibility very restricted. Cars hurtle up and down when the road is clear, often at dangerous speeds.

"During busy times, traffic gets stuck and unable to pass. We have repeatedly asked for speed bumps and conversion to one way, but nothing has been done.

"Despite the council being well aware of the problems on this road, they are backing a plan which would direct even more traffic up here.

"As residents we already find living here intolerable at times and the introduction of this plan would make it far worse. This narrow road cannot bear the extra volume of traffic."

Many of the residents believe the consultation has not been widely enough advertised and leaflets direct people to a QR code which they say is digitally exclusive. They also say both drop-in events were held in the same week.

A council spokesperson said it had had "very helpful discussions with hundreds of residents and local businesses".

They said the proposals were at an early stage and not finalised plans, adding "the feedback we gather will genuinely feed into further development" and help determine if proposals move forward, or which ones do.

A consultation on the plans closes on 4 November, with the council saying there will be more opportunities for people to get involved as the project progresses.

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