Agenda item

7.1

The Committee received a presentation from Peter Sephton, Chair of ChangingSheff, the City Centre Residents’ Association. He explained that the aim of ChangingSheff was to make Sheffield city centre a great place to live and to create a new vibe for the city centre. He noted how retail and office use in the city centre had evolved since 2013, and since the original developer had pulled out of the Sevenstone city centre development. He added that there had also been a change to housing demand within the repopulated urban centre, and highlighted the benefits of city centre living, which included convenience, exercise, services, entertainment and dining, universities and parks and outdoor facilities. He referred to the Heart of the City Development and the additional outlets that would feature in this. He noted the lack of community facilities, such as a village hall, pre-school nursery, laundry/dry-cleaning facilities and recycling centres, and suggested ideas of how to create a community, including giving the area a name and providing community facilities. Mr Sephton also noted the issue of anti-social behaviour in the city centre, and the multiple complex needs that often led to this. He explained that the ‘Help us Help’ campaign had been established, which involved the co-ordination of specialist outreach teams to support those who needed it. He added that there were official channels for reporting incidents of graffiti. He advised that people were welcome to call in to see the ChangingSheff team in Café Nero, Millenium Square.

7.2

The Chair thanked Mr Sephton for his interesting presentation, and advised that further discussions on this topic could take place during the interactive breakout session.