Ecclesall Road - 'What about residents?' demands clean air campaigner in bitter battle over parking

Graham Turnbull says 174,000 people live within one mile of the mid-point of Ecclesall Road and if a shop can’t survive on them 'it’s either the wrong shop or in the wrong place’.

He added: “And if a business does not have the support of local people, should local people not get more of a say in how public space is allocated?”

Mr Turnbull, who lives in Nether Edge, spoke out after Sheffield Labour councillors bowed to pressure from businesses and opposed plans to prioritise buses on Ecclesall and Abbeydale roads. The city council has proposed up to 12-hour bus lanes backed by London-style ‘red line’ enforcement to boost public transport, cycling and walking and cut pollution.

But shopkeepers who fear it would hit trade mounted a campaign which led Labour to withdraw support for the scheme. A vote on its future is due in June.

Mr Turnbull said cars had been “at the top of the food chain for too long” - and demoting them would not kill businesses. Studies showed people arriving on foot, bike or public transport spend 40 per cent more per month than people arriving by car, he added.

He said: “Right now we have shops and businesses in high density residential areas with potentially good transport connections that are on roads choked with parked cars. I know that a couple of shops have done surveys of how their customers arrive and found that the majority arrive by car, but that is not surprising. That is how things are set up now, with the car at the top of the pyramid. Let’s be honest, we use our cars as much out of habit as out of necessity.

“Maybe you are asking, what about the local businesses that depend on passing cars for trade? Most of those cars aren’t stopping anyway and let’s be brutally honest, if a business can’t be supported by the local population, is it really a local business?

"If the business does not have the support of local people, should the local people not get more of a say than the business in how its public space is allocated?”

He also warned schools adjacent to both roads suffered from dangerous air pollution including Holt House, Hunters Bar, Nether Edge, Porter Brook and Lowfield.

He added: “In Sheffield, car alternatives are neither attractive nor safe for the majority of people. Cyclists are constantly having to move in and out of traffic. Pedestrians have few safe crossings. If there was a bus lane in place for more hours there would be space for cycling as well as increased distance between exhaust pipes and people’s lungs.

He added: “I must admit to being disappointed by the politicians who have jumped on this issue and come out against red lines and active travel neighbourhoods. They might be surprised to find out in May that those business owners do not live in their wards!”

Earlier this month Labour confirmed bus lane plans on Abbeydale Ecclesall roads do not have Labour’s support and they do not want to see any changes to the current parking arrangements which permit parking outside of rush hour.