Attercliffe is mentioned in the Doomsday Book -Its about to enjoy an amazing Rennaissance …..

 Here is an extract from article I wrote for Sheffield Newspapers in 2012

Along with many notable Sheffield city enthusiasts from both public and private sectors I attended a lecture “Europe’s greenest City “hosted by Sheffield Hallam University on Friday march 16th organised by the Academy of Urbanism and presented by Prof Wulf Daseking head of Urban planning in The City Of Freiburg Southern Germany . The lecture was well attended and Prof Daseking received warm applause for an entertaining and thought provoking talk that lasted well over an hour . A splendid Brochure was made available outlining Freiburg’s success as a model award winning European sustainable city . I do hope that the Lord mayor Senior City planning officers and Officials and the rest of the audience were listening attentively to Prof Daseking main messages that he repeated several times during the lecture

1.    That Sheffield is a city that is too focused on its centre and must consider sustainable developments across the whole of the city

2.    That development should be focused along the tram routes that run into the suburbs and that walking and cycling be encouraged to have priority over the Car . indeed that the tram routes should be extended .

3.    That “elephants” namely huge inner city centre developments ( in our case the hopelessly out of date SEVENSTONE) are not the way forward and that City centres should be about people and spaces . Development of modern place can be in other districts around the edge of centre

4.    That we should adopt the idea that a strong independent Mayor who can drive development is far better suited to leading a city than our current system of party politics lead cities .

Decisions that have been made by many in Sheffield  over the years contradict  these words of wisdom and I do hope that those that attended on March 16th 2012 will read the Freiburg brochure and urge Sheffield to learn from Germany .

I am pleased to say that it appears that maybe just maybe the tide is turning in Sheffield and at last the City is beginning to get its act together to become a city of European Significance .

The story in the City centre has been well documented and its happening over there creating its own momentum . Sheffield East is perhaps not getting the publicity it deserves but I am witnessing a transformation to behold and its important that word gets out .

Sheffield East is fast becoming a place where people want to be . Businesses Retail Sport Leisure and Government Organisations are establishing themselves along the Attercliffe Corridor from J34 Meadowhall to the Wicker and City Centre . Here is a very quick example of what you can see in Sheffield East Gateway today .

Meadowhall – IKEA – Meadowhall Business Park – The Retail Park – Centretainment- Fly DS Arena – Ice Centre – Don Valley Bowl – Ice Centre – SY Police HQ- EIS – UTC – Olympic Legacy Park- Attercliffe Centre …… Hotels ,new Bars ,shops and Businesses are all opening up and thriving and with a bit of luck the public domain and landscaping is at last being given consideration .Virgin Media, Gripple ,Sumo – Architects Tec companies Accountants and Lawyers are settling in Sheffield EAST .

I often Talk about Attercliffe being a Hollywood Movie Star with teeth missing – Everyone looks at the gaps in the teeth !!!… Well those gaps are now being filled in and the results are great . The future for Attercliffe is very very exciting – The Olympic Legacy Park championed by Richard Caborn and backed by The AMP and the Universities and SCC is an absolute Game Changer . Dont take my word for it – Go and take a look and you will be astounded at the progress . The UTC and Oasis academy are now established places of learning and next year they will be joined by Research centres and more importantly researchers and students .

Sheffield Hallam University are already well established in Attercliffe at Woodbourn Road and now they are investing in the OLP and surrounding areas .

Dont be surprised to see more and more SHU activity in the months and years ahead .Sheffield Childrens Hospital Research cntre and a food engineering Research centre are being built NOW !

Amazingly Attercliffe Centre is suddenly becoming Prime Real Estate with the news that at last !!!! Housing is on the agenda for the district . There is potential for over 1000 homes and developers and house builders are in the area and looking for opportunities . People are actually warming to the idea that Sheffield East is a place where they can enjoy an amazing lifestyle… You just have to walk into the Old Library and take a look at what Aaron Stewart and Natasha farrell have done to cater for the new clientele that are working in the district

Its not difficult to see why Attercliffe is set to become a success story after all it was the |East End of Sheffield that put us on the map in the last century or two .

Walk from Meadowhall to the Wicker along the river or Canal or catch the tram or the regular X1 Bus or jog or cycle or drive – Its easy – Loads of Open Space lots to do plenty to see and an awful lot of amazing architecture Old and New .

The Attercliffe Urban Village is ready to fly. Living on the Edge – The Cliff Edge is the future .

David Slater