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Petitions To Council


duckweed

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Did you know that there is a formula re petitions to Council?

Petitions with 2,500 or more signatures can require a senior officer to give evidence at a Scrutiny Committee.

Petitions with 5,000 or more signatures will trigger a public debate by Full Council. We require 7 working days’ notice prior to a Council meeting for a public debate at Full Council to ensure that members have adequate time to prepare for the debate.

So basically if we had 5'000 on our Save the Old Town Hall petition we could demand a public debate. But 5'000 is a big ask and that's probably why they have set it so high as many councils set the levels at much lower. The Jessop Petition levels were pretty big but don't remember if they were as high as 5'000.

It isn't only about the Old Town Hall. At present Sheffield Council has no designated councillor for Heritage and no strategy for Conservation of heritage within their regeneration and development within their policy documents. We want to change all that.

http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/columnists/our-city-s-heritage-is-a-great-asset-1-7150960

Help us knock on the Council's door. At present we are meeting with Council officers but have yet to meet a councillor from the Cabinet.

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Hello duckweed, I have presented a few petitions to the Council over the years. In addition to the information you have posted anyone who presents a petition (of any size) to the Council gets to address the full meeting for three minutes. Also supporters can ask additional questions from the public gallery. I think it is worth doing as it calls Councillors to account in front of the public and the press - most petitions are fobbed off, but something of interest may attract plenty of attention in doing so.

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The last one I was involved with saw Councillors being criticised for the lack of attention/interest they showed. The decision had been made in Cabinet and nothing, short of the second coming would change their minds.

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We are losing lots of funding, according to people we have talked to, and a letter from the Arts Council that I was given a copy of. All down to the Council's lack of interest in heritage, culture and tourism. We are the only council that doesn't have a designated councillor representing heritage.

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I think you make a really interesting point. The local elections are due...and the Council , sometimes, take note of what's said in the local press...perhaps a few letters might make the Council wake up????

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Have my article in the Sheffield Telegraph which I tweeted to various councillors. Frankly I don't hold out a lot of hope for a reaction on that front. And Labour and Libdems wonder why they are losing council seats to the Greens. The only councillor I've had any conversation with is a Green.

I think there is a good chance with the problems surrounding Meersbrook Hall that we will see more Green councillors in that area too. Seems the 2 major parties are quite happy to give seats away rather than talk to the community.

Heritage groups have been trying to make an impact on Councils for at least 40 years. Some really dynamic organisations but generally their experiences re Council are not good. Doesn't matter who is in power either as the stories are just as many of neglect, obstruction and destruction whoever was ruling body.

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I tend to agree....indeed, I have long thought of Sheffield as the "Philistine City". This is hardly surprising given the limited vision of many Councillors....who aren't fit to lick the boots of some who selflessly worked for the City in the past...and with scant reward. I shall start by sending off a few pertinent requests under the FoIA.

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Please do. I don't see Sheffield as Phillistine more as having an inferiority complex. Sheffield is unique yet there are people always making comparisons with other cities. Even when 3 different catering companies won top national awards there were still people saying everyone knows Leeds has better food. Leeds had won no awards at all. We could have a beautiful city if we got together and restored the lovely unique old buildings we have and create an interesting lively city again instead of dropping in shiny boxes in the all the wrong places and leaving buildings to rot..

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I think that the council's apparent lack of interest in heritage matters, is fundamentally down to the fact that they see them as being "low agenda" items.

That is to say, that they perceive that they would not win any additional votes by devoting any real time to them.

I also believe that there is indeed, a wider perception that Sheffield is indeed a Philistine City, and the diversion of cultural funding to other cities would seem to support the fact that such a perception does exist.

Such a perception however, might not reflect reality, as the wide ranging interests shown by many of the posters on this site should testify.

Never the less, I do believe that our Council do not do themselves, or ourselves any favours in changing that perception by their past and present attitude to such matters.

Unfortunately however, I cannot see those attitudes changing anytime soon.

Most of the councillors in this city are probably guaranteed re-election irrespective of the fact as to whether they are caring, or competent. A chimpanzee would be elected, so long as it wore the right coloured rosette.

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I am the Green Party candidate for Nether Edge and hope to work with the Neighbourhood Group in their preservation work, for example the sewer gas lamps. I certainly see keeping our history alive as an important part of a Councillor's job.

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It isn't just about keeping features like sewer lamps. It is about the fact that major economic studies by the World Bank, EU, HLF , Princes Regen Trust, and English Heritage to name but a few says that the historic character of an area is a marketable asset. In this city it is of as much importance as the MADE IN  SHEFFIELD trade mark. The City's heritage is its brand. When a business want to move its business to a new city one of the features that is important is its livability and its distinctiveness. People do not want to live and work in a city that every morning when you wake up you wonder which city you are in because it all looks the same. Likewise conference delegates like a city with character, places that are memorable and interesting. Modern companies like It companies like to be linked to the past by the buildings they live in. There is a huge amount of data to back this up. And of course it is more environmentally friendly to restore an old building rather than knock it down and start again. And besides all that Heritage gives neighbourhoods a sense of collective identity. Doesn't matter if your family has lived there for generations or just moved there it is the interesting place in your neighbourhood.   

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Despite  the largest number of objections ever recorded ,Sheffield's planners have agreed with the development of part of Devonshire Street.....The Council takes no notice....unless the objections are strictly on planning grounds and Petitions fare no better!

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 Today, I have written to SCC, under the Act, asking for details about ...responsibility of individuals, budget, loss of grants and, indeed, how many grants have been received for...Heritage, Culture and Tourism. It will be interesting to see what they say. I shall post the response.

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I regularly meet , over a coffee, with a Labour Councillor who is very interested in his Ward. Not all of the Party is "rotten"... but the Local Government system with its "Cabinet" tends to make any independence subject to de selection.

 

I will not enter into a political debate but the Greens themselves have their problems...witness Brighton, a place I know fairly well!

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I really don't see it as a political issue in the way of party politics. I have stories from all sides of some horrendous opinions re keeping Sheffield's heritage. Including local Greens (though not councillors) Libdems  Labour and Conservatives. It is more the fact that there is an inferiority complex. Every other city is better than Sheffield and we most get rid of anything uniquely Sheffield because it is inferior. They don't understand that it is the things that are different within Sheffield that actually makes a unique selling point to Investors who want to live and work in the city. How do we change that? First we need the Local plan that would have protected Devonshire Street had it been ratified in place. Secondly we need a councillor for Heritage within the cabinet. We need structures in place so that whoever is in control of the Council the vital history of the area is protected. We need those 20'000 supporters of Devonshire Street to go and ask their local councillor why the local plan was not in place and why developers are boasting that they can go wherever they like in Sheffield as the city is wide open. I know several councillors who say they are keen on heritage yet when it comes to voting to protect them they don't vote for that. So I feel a bit sceptical about these councillors. If so interested why haven't they insisted the local plan be implemented? Instead they spend thousands on trying to stop Next building in Meadowhall while missing the point that High Street shopping has totally changed and places like Devonshire Street are the future style of shopping.    

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I have written and had published a number of books concerning our industrial heritage and just how vital Sheffield and its skilled workforce was for the defence of this country. We have much of which we should be proud, not only with regard to our industrial base. but ,  as you say, we do seem to have developed an inferiority complex. Sadly, our "bricks and mortar heritage" is something which , arguably, has been neglected ever since the mid 19th century and the starting of "redevelopments"...but, in fairness, Sheffield was a pretty unhealthy, rough and ready place, by all accounts, and did need improving..... The seeds to a civic  mentality against preservation seems to have been sown then.

 

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