A SHEFFIELD community group says it is delighted plans to relocate St Luke's Hospice to a city park will be blocked by the new Lib Dem Council.
The Friends of Graves Park has spent months campaigning against plans by St Luke's to build a new hospice on Norton Nurseries.
The group today welcomed the news that Coun Paul Scriven - who will next week become the new Leader of Sheffield Council
- has announced the Lib Dems will block any moves to build on the site.
Spokesman Nick Williams said: "This issue has divided the city and we welcome Coun Scriven's prompt action because he has now drawn a line under this. We are sympathetic to St Luke's but the council is trustee of the land and it is supposed to look after its own charity and not somebody else's."
Although the new ruling Lib Dems say they won't support the plans, St Lukes has already made an application to the council for permission to use the Norton Nurseries site. It says 15,000 people have signed petitions in favour of using the site and that it "will make good use of land which cannot currently be accessed as parkland".
But the Friends of Graves Park say they would like St Luke's to abandon its plans so the future of the park is secured once and for all.
"We need some sort of finality to this and for St Luke's to say they won't press ahead," said Mr Williams.
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