Sheffield Council high street £4m regeneration funding praised for bringing together businesses and communities

The second round of Sheffield City Council’s Economic Recovery Fund (ERF) was approved by the council’s economic development and skills committee (September 13). The £2m spending round was also approved by the council’s finance committee this week (September 11).

In total, 23 projects will benefit from investment from the Economic Recovery Fund, which was developed as part of Sheffield’s Covid Business Recovery Plan and has already invested £2.2m into the city’s high streets since 2021.

An analysis of the first round of £2m ERF funding made in 2021 showed that every £1 spent delivered a return of £1.99. Eight new business forums were created, dozens of shop fronts were renovated, seven street art projects were delivered and more than 50 community events took place.

Second-round funding has been approved for projects including a new short-term event space on Northern Avenue, Arbourthorne, which will host events, workshops and drop-in sessions for local residents and businesses, a new community orchard in Crookes and new heritage trails and events in Ecclesfield.

On London Road, funding will provide new banners, planters and a mural for the Alderson Road car park. A programme of events will bring people together for Eid, Christmas and Lunar New Year.

In Greenhill, new greenery will be planted to enhance the central area and a promotional campaign will encourage people to shop local.

In other areas, new bins, benches, murals and improved shop fronts will help brighten up high streets, encourage people to shop local and provide social spaces.

All the projects were bid for by consortiums of local businesses that in several cases were brought together to apply for the funding and will continue working together.

Successful bids that won up to £100,000 were:

Crookes £90,000Darnall £100,000Harborough Avenue £70,000Heeley & Newfield Greens £100,000London Road £142,355Northern Avenue £66,818Spital Hill £74,470Westfield £71,456Woodhouse £70,000.

Smaller-scale bids for up to £50,000 were secured by:

Abbeydale £37,682Banner Cross £36,198Broomhill £40,250Chapeltown £49,644Ecclesfield £38,857Firth Park £39,932Greenhill £50,000Hackenthorpe £49,573Hillsborough £46,022Infirmary Road £32,116Lowedges £37,321Middlewood £48,971Stannington £49,962Walkley £35,052

A steering group made up of councillors, senior officers and private/community sector representatives chose the successful applications and gave feedback on all projects that were considered, including where other funding might be available.

The scheme was oversubscribed with 49 projects put forward, eight of which were rejected outright as not fitting the brief. The others were scored to determine which would go ahead.

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A team of six business information officers and five application development workers gave support including helping teams put together their applications.

A report to the committee said: “The total value of the 23 projects that passed scoring exceeded the available budget by nearly £1m so the steering group agreed an approach to reducing individual project budgets, to ensure value for money and that the successful projects could all benefit from a share of the funding.”

Coun Abdul Khayum said: “It is a practical and excellent example of partnership working.” He said it had been inspiring walking around his Firth Park ward with economic policy officer Sarah Lowi Jones, who led the ERF project, to see what a difference the first round of funding had made to the area around the shops and park.

Coun Laura Moynahan said: “It is a really important initiative, really small scale but with a bigger impact. It came out of Labour’s budget amendments but I’d like to think it could get cross-party support.”