We've been here before. Sheffield has a Labour council. A lot of people on here praising Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Leicester, wherever. All these places have Labour councils. Sheffield may have a short sighted and inept council, but that's not necessarily because it's a Labour council. It may be because people in Sheffield in a sense have "given up", as they see plans go wrong, year after year. The development of the Moor is a good idea, but not at the expense of Fargate. Keeping cars out is a good idea, but only if your public transport system is far better than Sheffield's (see Manchester, London, Nottingham). Developing nice squares with fountains (Sheaf Square, Leopold Square, the new bits around the Moor and the back of where Debenhams was), is a good idea, but only if the fountains work and there are decent shops, bars etc to watch the world go by (and don't get me started on the redevelopment of Fitzalan Square, and whose idea it was to keep the e-cig kiosk in the corner!!!). None of this happens because the council is Labour, it happens because the council is crap.
I've lived in Barnsley (in a village between Barnsley and Penistone) for 7 years now. You may laugh, but we couldn't afford to live anywhere in Sheffield we actually wanted to move to (we lived in Intake for over 25 years but wanted to live somewhere greener, and because when we left Intake wasn't the place it was). Barnsley has a Labour council. The bins are emptied on time, and the binmen tend to leave the empty bins outside your house. The town centre (which was a shithole), is being redeveloped really well (it's a work in progress), and due to investors pulling out due to the recession, the council are funding this. New retail space isn't empty, it has companies moving in. It's not Leeds and never will be, but there's some thought, ambition, and "joined up thinking ". This is from a much lower base than Sheffield, with no university and all the cash that brings, and from a scene of utter devastation not that long ago. They tend to mend the roads too (not as well as they used to, but you can't have everything!). There are bad things about here, and a small town attitude, but it's a small town, not a big city.
I'm just trying to make a point that Sheffield's plight isn't about party politics, it's about the council having a small town attitude in a big city.
Finally, I've not met anyone here with extra fingers, although I have occasionally had suspicions about "family relationships ", but that may be linked to my line of work!!