Esablade
Never knowingly wrong.
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2014
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- #181
I think that one was very much a two-way street - central government funding tended (and still does) go to Manchester & Leeds as a result of the clashes with central government. St Pancras over the years is a perfect example - almost obliterated and neglected as it 'only' went to Sheffield. But when its redeveloped for Eurotunnel, the Sheffield line gets punted off into a bus stop. All talk of the 'Northern Powerhouse' was centred on Leeds & Manchester, although i think we all know that was just hot air and shite. Then there's HS2 bypassing Sheffield. As if the 'spur' will ever get built (hopefully the whole lot will be shelved in favour of improving the east-west infrastructure). There was a full on european loading gauge mainline from London through Sheffield to Manchester, electrified between the two cities as well. Even Dr Beeching thought that was a line worth keeping.
I've hardly been back to Sheffield since I left in '91. But when I do go back, I realise how much I took for granted whilst growing up. No other city I've visited is such a sea of green on the approaches, with the exception maybe of Sydney. But also no other city has strangled itself quite so much. The city centre always seemed to be 3 separate areas when I was growing up - it was rare to go to the moor, fargate & hole in the road in one trip - usually just one. And the walk from the bus station to Bramall Lane really shows the city at its worst. What a dump it must appear to away fans.
The City council do seem uniquely insular and short sighted. Didn't they spend more on knocking down Don Valley & upgrading Woodburn Rd than it cost to run Don Valley for years? Sheaf Valley was an excellent example - some bright spark built it to imperial size, so it could never be used to host proper stuff. Then got knocked down before the debt had been paid off.
They really should be making more of the City at the heart of the Industrial Revolution, the greenest city in Europe and the only one in the UK with national park within its boundaries. Some of the countryside within the city boundary is up there with the Lake District for beauty. Sheffield's gegraphy probably doesn't help either, being an odd sort of spoked linear layout. We suffer a similar thing on a much smaller scale in Kendal - there's no space to reasonably build necessary infrastructure. And then you get the 50s theme park brigade (Friends Of the Lake District & Kendal Civic Society) here. Can't touch anything, ever. There's 5 road bridges in Kendal, 3 of them 1 way because they're 'ancient' bridges that can't possibly be widened. Except all 3 of them have been widened & rebuilt at least 5 times in the last 200 years. One of them was used for experiments with 'cement fondue' that developed into tarmac.
As for the comparisons with Leeds & Manchester - those places are the tackiest, most superficial hunks of shite imaginable. I suspect the free trade hall will still be standing many years after the new stuff has been pulled down. But it looks pretty for the first 3-5 years. Once the maintenance budget starts going up, those concrete & glass boxes will very quickly look like shit. Bloody hell - I'm sounding like Prince Charles ;-)
After growing up in Sheffield, I was at Bradford Uni for 5 years. Another once great & Beautiful city that was neglected after the collapse of its main industry. Now I see a fair bit of Whitehaven & Barrow. Again, places that have lost the main industries and are VERY neglected. There's some fantastic buildings in those places, but they're falling apart through lack of interest. One thing that strikes me is that its as though the whole community lost confidence. What the answer is I don't know. 'Bradford is Bouncing Back' of course (and has been since the 70s!)
I lived in Hartlepool for a year. That place is just fundamentally shit. I think its only purpose is to make Middlesbrough look good.
Anyone else like to join me on my ramble...
..as I implied earlier, Sheffield should just be 'grassed over'...make the most of the green city...national park tourist thing...plant a forest through the city centre, the tourists/students will love it...as would the locals.
