Ten Sheffield high streets set to receive £500k investment

Lisa Birkett, owner of Happy Hare independent fabric shop and member of Station Road Business Forum, Chapeltown

Local businesses in ten areas across Sheffield are set to benefit from more than £500,000 investment in their high streets.

Sheffield City Council has announced further areas which will be supported by its Economic Recovery Fund, an innovative grant set up in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic to support local high streets and hard-hit sectors.

Project groups, led by businesses, councillors and community groups, have put forward ideas to increase footfall and encourage Sheffielders to explore their local high streets, as well as discover new areas of the city.

The successful areas are:

There are also two city centre projects that have been awarded funding, led by Site Gallery and Angel Street Kinema, based at the successful Kommune co-working space. 

Councillor Paul Turpin, Executive Member for Inclusive Economy, Jobs and Skills and Chair of the Economic Recovery Fund Steering Group, said: “Across Sheffield we have a fantastic retail and hospitality offer but it’s been a tough time and many businesses are not out of the woods yet. I’m delighted that there are so many committed businesses out there working for the benefit of the wider business community. I also hope that encouraging businesses to work in collaboration in this way, with the Council enabling and facilitating, is something we can continue into the future.”

The successful projects will deliver a mix of new street furniture, events, marketing and promotion, new street trees and Christmas lights – with each area designing their own project to fit the local character and needs.

These areas join those already announced in Hillsborough, Firth Park, Walkley, Broomhill and Totley, alongside events delivered last summer during the award nominated Summer in the Outdoor City programme to complete the full set of projects supported.

The Council has also committed to funding Business Information Officers for another year, until March 2023, through the Economic Recovery Fund. The team of six experts have proved vital in providing not only Covid safety guidance but also ‘business saving’ and growth advice to businesses in extremely difficult trading conditions. 

Councillor Julie Grocutt, Sheffield City Council Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Community Engagement and Governance and Deputy Chair of the Economic Recovery Fund Steering Group, said: “I am delighted we have carved out some funding to keep these experts in place and on the ground across the city.  The Business Information Officers have been an incredible resource and are really shaping how we see our business support service developing in the future – being in person and out in communities.  They have also been pivotal in bringing businesses together and getting them to self-organise into business forums, which I think will prove invaluable as we work with them in the future.”

Lisa Birkett, owner of Happy Hare independent fabric shop and member of Station Road Business Forum, Chapeltown, said: “Being part of this project has brought us all together and made us really think about the things that could make a difference here.  We all have been hard hit and want to encourage people to shop locally across the area.  It’s been hard work, but I hope people locally and beyond will come and see what we are about and support us.”

Richard Botham of Changing Hands Community Interest Company, led the Woodhouse bid and said: “It was really important for us to breathe new life into our market square and bring it back into the use for which it was intended.  The Economic Recovery Fund has enabled us to plan events across the coming year, which we hope will complement and enhance the businesses in Woodhouse and bring new people to spend their money locally.  Our first event is a Spring Market on Saturday 26^th March – I can’t wait to see the reaction and I really hope it brings everyone together locally.” 

And it doesn’t stop there, a further £2million has been allocated in the 2022/23 budget to continue support for Sheffield high streets outside the city centre.

For more information on the Economic Recovery Fund head to: https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/home/business/covid-19-economic-recovery-fund or contact recoveryfund@sheffield.gov.uk.