Tramlines Festival Sheffield 2023: Some residents fear 'horrendous' parking problems, despite new restrictions

The popular festival, this year taking place between Friday, July 21 and Sunday, July 23, with Richard Ashcroft, the Courteneers and Paul Heaton headlining, always brings a party atmosphere to the whole city, providing a big financial boost.

But it also causes inevitable disruption for people living around the park, and, despite Tramlines’ ongoing efforts to be a better neighbour, residents on some streets claim they have been forgotten about.

What parking restrictions are in place for Tramlines Festival 2023?

Tramlines has this year extended the parking restrictions in place around the venue in an attempt to reduce traffic and prevent festivalgoers taking up spaces on residential streets, while maintaining access for residents, businesses and their customers. Organisers say they have more than doubled the homes covered by signage and stewarding, and they are again encouraging attendees to travel by public transport wherever possible.

But residents on a small group of streets to the north west of the park, off Middlewood Road, claim the restrictions now in place on around 85 per cent of residential streets surrounding the festival site will make matters on the remaining 15 per cent of roads even worse. They say parking during the festival was already ‘horrendous’ and it will be almost impossible if their concerns are ‘ignored’.

Why are some residents not happy?

More than 70 residents living on Carlton Road and Rockley Road have signed petitions calling for their streets to be included in the restricted zones monitored by festival stewards. The Carlton Road petition states: “This will complete a comprehensive network of equal protection for all roads in the areas immediately surrounding Hillsborough Park.”

Katy Scrivener, who lives on Carlton Road, said: “None of us are anti-Tramlines. We think it’s a great festival but we could do with with a bit of consideration because we’re closer to the park than many of the roads which do have stewarding. Parking was already horrendous last year and we fear it’s going to be even worse this time if our concerns are ignored.”

A Tramlines spokesperson said: “Residents-only parking formed an important part of our consultation after last year’s event and we are grateful to everyone who took part. As a result, we have increased the scheme’s budget and resources by 80 per cent for 2023, allowing us to more than double the number of homes covered by signage and stewarding.

“We strongly encourage festival goers to help us minimise the impact of the festival by leaving the car at home and making use of the extensive public transport links to and from Hillsborough Park. Full details of how to get here can be found on our website.”

What other road closures are in place during Tramlines Festival 2023?

As well as the restrictions in place on residential streets, Middlewood Road and Penistone Road will be closed to all traffic, including residents, for about an hour each night for the safety of pedestrians leaving the park.

Middlewood Road will be closed from around 9.45pm-11pm on the Friday and Saturday, and from 8.45pm-10pm on Sunday. Penistone Road will be shut to all traffic from around 9.45pm-10.45pm on the first two nights and 8.45pm-9.45pm on the Sunday.