Sheffield charity Element Society has completed a successful crowdfunding to teach cost-of-living kitchen skills and provide ingredients for 1800 meal parcels. The project, started during lockdown, was originally funded to give young people the kitchen skills to cook from scratch, so they were able to help support their families with healthier food options. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to Element Society project advisor Shaun Davies.
A Burngreave-based business owner has called on the local authority and Yorkshire Water to investigate the cause of a burst water main in Spital Hill which he says is affecting his business. Yousif Karda, owner of Sudan Tech on Spital Hill, told Sheffield Live! burst water pipes in the area were becoming frequent, with road closures affecting footfall for local businesses. Baillor Jalloh reports.
A new play area and public space, Pounds’s Park, has opened on the site of the former fire station between Rockingham Street and Carver Street. Named after the city’s first chief fire officer, Superintendent John Charles Pound, the park includes two pyramid towers, slides, a climbing boulder and other play equipment. Baillor Jalloh reports for Sheffield Live!
The annual Sheffield Ceramic Festival returned to the city at the weekend with more than 50 ceramic artists, potters and sculptors exhibiting their work at Kelham Island Museum. The festival is into its eighth year and most of the profits are set to be donated to charities including De Paul, an organisation which works with homeless young people. The two day festival attracted hundreds of people from across the city. Baillor Jalloh reports for Sheffield Live!
A long-awaited Islamic centre and mosque in Burngreave has formally opened its doors to the public, having been under construction for over a decade. The Sheffield Grand Mosque, on Grimesthorpe Rd, is set to be a landmark of Islamic architecture and design. It boasts four halls that cater for community activities, Islamic study, sports such as gymnastics, football and karate training, as well as prayer halls for both men and women. Sheffield live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to volunteers and worshippers at the mosque.
Sheffield’s director of public health, Greg Fell, has told Sheffield Live! dirty air is contributing to hundreds of deaths and an increase in cancer and asthma patients in the city. Fell said the introduction of the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in Sheffield is mainly to address these health related issues. Dozens of people joined a protest rally at the weekend calling on the local authority to stop charging vehicles that do not meet the legal standard. CAZ came into force in February, meaning drivers of the most polluting vehicles such as taxis, vans and lorries will have to pay a charge to drive into the city centre and the inner ring road. Taxis will pay £10 while buses and HGVs will pay £50 per day. Baillor Jalloh reports.
Members of Extinction Rebellion and Palestine Action held a demonstration outside Barclays Bank on Pinstone Street to protest against what they describe as climate crimes and injustices of greedy businesses. The two groups accuse the banking giant of investing heavily in fossil fuel and providing investment and loans to arms companies selling weapons and military technology to Israel that are used against unarmed Palestinians. Sheffield Live! Baillor Jalloh spoke to Steph Howlett and Randeep Samra.
Alison Teal, former Green Party councillor for Nether Edge and Sharrow who was thrown out of a full council meeting in 2017 over the street trees dispute, has called for a public apology from senior councillors who had defended the felling of street trees. Speaking to Sheffield Live! Teal said “people were really brutalised, people were physically hurt”. Teal was one of six campaigners who were arrested by police and detained for several hours for protesting against the felling of street trees across the city. The independent review into the trees dispute recommended the local authority apologise for “developing and adopting a flawed plan” to remove and replace street trees in the city. Baillor Jalloh reports.
Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, Liberal Democrats leader on Sheffield City Council, has called for the resignations of council leader Terry Fox and councillor Bryan Lodge in the wake of the independent report into the felling of Sheffield street trees. Baillor Jalloh reports for Sheffield Live!
Members of the Sheffield Tree Action Group have welcomed the findings of Sir Mark Lowcock’s independent report into the dispute on the felling of thousands street trees in the city. Campaigners Russell Johnson and Phillip William Yates, speaking to Sheffield Live! said they were content with the findings of the report and called for the resignation of councillors Terry Fox, leader of Sheffield Council, and Bryan Lodge who were heavily involved in the project delivery. The findings concluded the local authority should apologise for what the report described as “developing and adopting a flawed plan” to remove and replace street trees in the city. Baillor Jalloh reports.