Campaigners protest demolition of historic buildings on Sheffield's Devonshire Street

Calendar
Sheffield
South Yorkshire
Tuesday 24 March 2015 at 5:05pm

Protesters targeted Sheffield Town Hall today angry over plans to demolish some historic city centre buildings.

Campaigners say the shops on Devonshire Street are part of the city's heritage and that too many historic buildings have already been demolished.

The council has this afternoon approved the scheme to convert them into flats, restaurants and cafes be approved.

Twenty thousand people have signed a petition against the demolition.

One of the campaigners, Rosie Huzzard, told ITV News some of the city's landmarks could be lost and Jarvis Cocker had supported the efforts to save the buildings.

Sheffield City Councillor, Leigh Bramall, said the council was in a difficult situation and its hands were tied by government requirements:

We are in an extremely difficult situation that is frustrating for the Council, because although technically we make the decision on planning applications, our hands are tied by the stringent planning laws set out by the government. If we did not follow these laws we would be putting the Council under a big risk of being taken to an appeal by the developer, to be heard by the National Planning Inspectorate, which would mean that the Council would be overruled and the development go ahead, but with the Council facing huge legal bills. What we need to see is the Council being given the powers to make the decisions to shape the future of our high streets, so we can make the decisions locally, listening to the views of local people rather than having to follow arbitrary rules made up by bureaucrats in Whitehall.