Sheffield City Council propose to turn green space of historical value into posh flats. Don't let them.
You Sheffielders will probably know the old cemetery in Sharrow, which I think is Victorian, although I may be wrong. The cemetery is absolutely fantastic. The top part where all the tombs are is all overgrown with ivy and rambling plants. Some of the tombs are huge and have big stone statues on them. The Friends of the General Cemetery keep the weeds down to a certain extent, but there is a lot of wildlife in the cemetery, so they keep it fairly wild, and not so well-groomed, and a lot of us like it that way. At the bottom end of the cemetery is a small field, where for the past two years Peace in the Park has been held. The cemetery is used regularly by lots of different people for dog-walking, hanging out, peaceful meandering, playing football, etc. etc.
There are two buildings in the cemetery - a disused chapel and a smaller building which people say is a masonic temple, although I don't this is true! I gather there plans afoot to turn the chapel into some kind of community centre, which would have been great, since the cemetery is both used by the local community, and is a site of historical interest which should be accessible to everyone. Now, however, a planning application has been put in for the chapel to be turned into luxury flats. This, of course, means that the planned community centre will not go ahead, and a good part of the cemetery will be fenced off.
The planning documents are at this site:
http://planningdocs.sheffield.gov.uk/WAM/showCaseFile.do?appType=DC&appNumber=06/01866/FUL. You can comment on the documents (although I haven't quite worked out how to do so), and the site also has the address to write a letter.
Don't let the council sell off this space! Write, turn up to the meeting and make a noise! Squat the building!
There are two buildings in the cemetery - a disused chapel and a smaller building which people say is a masonic temple, although I don't this is true! I gather there plans afoot to turn the chapel into some kind of community centre, which would have been great, since the cemetery is both used by the local community, and is a site of historical interest which should be accessible to everyone. Now, however, a planning application has been put in for the chapel to be turned into luxury flats. This, of course, means that the planned community centre will not go ahead, and a good part of the cemetery will be fenced off.
The planning documents are at this site:
http://planningdocs.sheffield.gov.uk/WAM/showCaseFile.do?appType=DC&appNumber=06/01866/FUL. You can comment on the documents (although I haven't quite worked out how to do so), and the site also has the address to write a letter. Don't let the council sell off this space! Write, turn up to the meeting and make a noise! Squat the building!
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support the application
27.06.2006 08:23
there are bigger issues here than "angus hunter's" job.
the chapel is crumbling and the professional attention it will get when converted into a dwelling house is the restoration that it badly needs and having viewed and walked through the site many times i have seen little evidence of any restoration work being carried out on the chapel.
the asertion that over a quarter of the cemetery land will be lost if the planning application is approved is an exaggeration and anyway any land that is lost to public use is no big deal private gardens are nice and if the chapel is converted into flats then the residents should have some garden space.
josh
e-mail:
premiermaple@hotmail.com
Attention all Undead!
25.07.2006 10:02
The gory details…
• Gather this Friday (28th) at the Cemetery Gatehouse (end of Cemetery Avenue, off Ecclesall Road) between 1 and 2 pm, to get into your finest zombie glad-rags and make-up. The awesome folk at Party Town on Eccy Road are sponsoring the event, allowing us free costume rental (small deposit required) and make-up for the day, but costumes will be limited so please try to bring your own. Ragged/Victorian/skeletal, or any combination of the three, but dressing up isn’t mandatory.
• Around 2.30pm, we’ll shamble along Ecclesall Road, Hanover Way, Broomspring Lane and Division Street, to arrive at the Town Hall around 4.30-5.00pm, where we’ll hand in the 3500-signature petition and hopefully talk to the press/TV (release to go out on Wednesday).
• We could also do with bearers to help carry a coffin – don’t panic, it’s actually very light, and we’ll be taking it in turns.
• Got a camera? Take good photos? Bring it!
• Also, make and bring banners - "Save the Chapel", "Hands off our Home, Mr Wilkinson", "Zombies for Justice", “RIP Sheffield General Cemetery…?” – witty if possible, but please, nothing that’s going to offend anyone.
• We’ve got quite a few people on board already – at least 30 – but the more the better, so please forward this to anyone you think might be interested.
• Dole moles, summering students, ladies and gentlemen of leisure: no, you DON’T have something better to do. Take a day off sunbathing, and make a difference. If Mr Wilkinson and his kind are allowed to carry on regardless, there’s going to be nowhere left in this city to sunbathe.
That’s all you need to know. If you haven’t heard the latest developments regarding the Chapel plans, please read on…
A grand total of 3500 signatures have now been collected by the Save the Chapel campaign – thanks to everyone who signed, and to everyone who has been involved in the various events and actions that have made the campaign such a success. It’s worked so well, in fact, that Mr Wilkinson (who submitted the plans) is now running scared, and is aiming to submit another application on the Chapel with more "sympathetic" plans: probably less visible alterations to the outside of the chapel, and almost certainly less Cemetery land pinched for private garden space, but you can bet your bottom dollar that the internal structure will be pretty much the same – Mr Wilkinson says he wants to build a ‘family’ home, which under current proposals involves the creation of six double bedrooms, all with en suite facilities. In other words, this luxury flats by the back door, but the new plans are likely to be accepted by the board on planning grounds – unless we keep up the pressure. Keep your eyes and ears open for more events, a new petition, and new details of how, where and where to raise official objections. We’ve already beaten this nonsense once. We can do it again.
Kum By Ya, people. See you Friday.
James Richardson
Family Home Article
26.07.2006 14:35
Developer planning home
tellygraf