Little London Road Sheffield: Petition to extend cycle route overtakes petition to reopen road to cars

Little London Road, near Heeley and Meersbrook, has been closed to motor vehicles at the railway bridge near Rydal Road since July 2022 as part of work to make the Sheaf Valley cycle route, linking Woodseats with Pond Hill in Sheffield city centre, safer.

The closure has proved controversial from the start, with many cyclists and pedestrians supporting the move and saying it makes them more likely to use the route but critics claiming it has simply pushed traffic onto surrounding roads, adding to congestion and increasing pollution.

A total of 744 people signed an online petition calling on Sheffield Council to reopen Little London Road to motor vehicles. That petition, which ran from mid-October last year to the end of January 2023, claimed that ‘anecdotal reports’ showed the closure had added up to 30 minutes to car journeys on Abbeydale Road during rush hour.

But 800 people and counting have now signed a separate petition, which was launched in mid-November last year and is due to close this Sunday, April 30, urging the council to complete and extend the Sheaf Valley cycle route.

When will a final decision be made about Little London Road closure?

It states that closing Little London Road to cars has seen the number of cyclists using that stretch increase by more than 50 per cent month on month and provides a ‘safe alternative to the main arterials of Chesterfield road and Abbeydale road which even very confident and experienced cyclists are afraid to cycle on’.

But it says that Little London Road is just one short road and until the cycle route is completed its full potential will not be realised.

The petition calls for the cycle route to be completed and extended out past Millhouses Park to Dore and Totley railway station, opening it up to many more people who want to cycle but are afraid to do so on the city's busy main roads.

The two petitions are the third and fourth most-signed petitions on the council’s website since the beginning of 2022, showing the strength of feeling on both sides. When the closure was first introduced, the metal bollards were cut and barriers were thrown in the River Sheaf.

The Little London Road closure was introduced under an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order, with a six-month period for comments. In its last update in January this year, the council said a review of the scheme was underway and the scheme would ‘remain in place while decisions are taken around which elements of the trial should stay in place and which should be removed or changed’.

It said decisions would be based on feedback received during the trial period, data relating to traffic flow changes, and the funding available, with a final decision expected to be made by councillors this summer.

What further changes are planned to the Sheaf Valley cycle route?

Planned improvements to the Sheaf Valley cycle route also include widening the existing one-way cycle lane along Shoreham Street, which runs beside Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane ground, to create a three-metre-wide two-way cycle lane there. This is due to be introduced under a Traffic Regulation Order, rather than an experimental order, as the council says the cost and magnitude of the work required is too great for it to be a trial. However, there is no such order listed on the council’s website to date.

In November, Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley, said Sheffield had been successful in its latest bid for funding to extend the cycle route, with the additions set to benefit Heeley, Arbourthorne and Gleadless Valley.

The Star has contacted Sheffield Council for the latest on the cycle route.