The Connecting Sheffield: City Centre project designed to create room for business expansion and for people to shop, eat and spend more time there has been given a £21m investment boost.
The funding will help Sheffield City Council deliver the project, improving public spaces and connecting key developments like the improvements on Fargate, Heart of the City and The Moor.
Connecting Sheffield: City Centre will also provide more space for people and will allow businesses to use more outdoor space for people to shop, eat and spend time – subject to licences. It is part of a drive by the council to boost the city centre.
Cllr Ben Miskell said: “Sheffield is changing. It’s transforming into an incredible city offering something for everyone whether you’re a resident here or visiting from further afield. Our Connecting Sheffield: City Centre project links up all the key areas in the city centre. From the Heart of the City’s great shops, services, dining, and entertainment to our fantastic shopping experience at The Moor and the new Fargate project as it nears completion. This investment will contribute further to the ongoing transformation of our cleaner, greener, more thriving city centre.
“By giving you more space in the city centre, and more choice in how you travel, we can reduce congestion on the roads to make bus journeys more reliable. We’re also introducing safer walking, wheeling, and cycling routes that will connect to other parts of the city. The changes we’ve already made to improve reliability of bus journeys mean the Connecting Sheffield: City Centre project will make travelling into the city centre by bus an even more realistic option too.”
Construction is due to start on the project in January 2025, and the Traffic Regulation Orders to make the required changes to roads are being advertised until Thursday 17 October.
Oliver Coppard, South Yorkshire’s Mayor, said: “Building a healthier, wealthier and happier South Yorkshire is central to my ambition as South Yorkshire’s Mayor.
“This important city centre project will not just give us greater freedom and choice about how we travel and move, but will also support our plans to make South Yorkshire the healthiest region in the country.
“It is part of the steps we are taking across our region to build new walking and cycling routes over the next three years – creating better places and more opportunities for us all to move more and move differently.”
Funding was approved by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) Board on 8 October and forms part of SYMCA’s £166 million Transforming Cities Fund investment across South Yorkshire.
