Sheffield

A modern sustainable city centre

City Halls

City Halls, graduation ceremony here as well as Jimmi Hendrix concert

Peace gardens

Think I celebrated my 21st here but can't remember much about it

Winter Gardens

Hallam University or a new distillery!

Park Hill Flats now speed dating for new business

Sheffield was my home for 3 years as a student and I returned yesterday for a training course in mentoring.  It was only my third visit in 40 years but I charged about with all the enthusiasm of youth. I rode the trams, walked around the city centre before breakfast, spent the 45-minute lunch break on a fast walk to the west end before making an exit via the M1 in the evening. I lived and worked in cities for the first forty years of my life and Sheffield was one of the better ones.

It always had a strong sense of place even as the steelworks were closing during my time there and there was a pride amongst local folk that is still very evident. The image of the city was not helped by the ludicrous recent statement from cabinet minister Oliver Letwin when talking to Boris Johnson about UK airport policy. "We don't want more people from Sheffield flying away on cheap holidays". What elitist nonsense. Sheffield folk are already very good at taking holidays, they appear to know the price and value of everything! Sheffield closed its airport in 2008 and turned it into a business park. Not to please that mardy Oliver Letwin but to create jobs. Why have aircraft noise to detract from the quality of life in the city when there are already three airports within an hour's drive - Doncaster, East Midlands and Leeds Bradford as well as a direct train link to Manchester airport.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Council had created a city centre with a continental feel. The excellent trams helped as did the pedestrianisation and good quality environment. A water feature had been created running down from the city hall to the peace gardens by the City Hall and then through the Hallam University campus to the remodelled railway station. The Park Hill flats which were subject to debate about demolition in the late 1960s were still there and being marketed as business space.  The centre had a good range of independent shops which seemed to extend all the way to the university along the tram route that has created a corridor of commercial activity as in many European cities.  

After the recession in the 1980s which saw off many of the original industries, Sheffield re-emerged as a strong regional centre and was the fastest growing city in England over the past decade. The City Council has always had a strongly municipal pride. For many years it was described disparagingly by the press as the socialist republic of Sheffield.  Sir Ron Ironmonger was the leader of the Council during my time there and he was certainly better known than the MPs.  The Council provided a superb and cheap public transport system in the 1970s. It was dismantled by the Thatcher government and it is sad to see the trams are now operated by Stagecoach. But the City Council has propelled itself forward by taking on many other initiatives that have revived the economy.

It became the host city for the world student games in 1994 creating new sports facilities such as Ponds Forge and the Don Valley Stadium and accommodation that has benefited the city since. So have the event venues from the City Hall, Sheffield Arena, to the Crucible and Lyceum. The two Universities accommodate 54,000 students which must be amongst the highest proportion of students anywhere in the UK and in 2011 Sheffield University was named UK University of the year. This certainly helps support the arts and science facilities that abound and creates an edginess to complement the technology and science-based activities that have flourished.

When I took a tram ride to the suburbs I inadvertently started a focus group amongst the passengers talking about the advantages of living in Sheffield.  One father with two young children felt that there was no better place to bring up children, he had returned from London to do this, some students thought there were a great club and music scene, sports facilities were first class and an older couple thought there was 'nowt wrong with it' in that pragmatic Yorkshire style.

It helps that the city has more green space than any other UK city and has a string of green initiatives that put most other UK cities to shame. Easy access to the Peak District National Park and the Pennines are an advantage over most cities. From district heating schemes to recycling and encouraging cycling this place knows where it is going.  I called in on my niece and family and she was very fulsome in her praise of the city and the opportunities it provides for her and her children. It is good in these troubled times to find a place that has a sense of direction. Sheffield's regeneration seems stainless.