@@timawells I am a member of the FOSC. In regards to your campaign to Rebuild. The very early original plans had plans for a partial rebuild of the gatehouse (you can see it on some early concept drawings), but I would surmise that SCC didn’t approve of it due to funding and every council being on their knees. What I think would be great would be an application to the heritage lottery fund to get something in the works - really hope your ambition gains traction.
Absolutely Alan. They pumped so much money into banking but not into upgrading manufacturing. These businesses could have been updated and we would have had a right brand to export to the rest of the world.
I think Sheffield will become high density housing, major chains owned by a few parent companies and everything tracked and traced like a technological open prison where people will be judged by a social credit score. If I was planning the city I would: 1. Have only offices, education, shops and businesses for people to meet each other and be entertained. 2. Manufacturing and production on brown field sites near to the national highway networks. 3. Design the transport network system so its very easy for people to move around. 4. Attract a diverse portfolio of business so we are not putting all our eggs in one basket i.e. the steel industry did well in war times but Sheffield was too reliant or heavily invested on it. 5. Whatever is chosen, it must be easy to maintain with a very long service life 6. Historical buildings or places should be highlighted and made a feature. This is not rocket science.
All that area was once full of cutlery and small tool businesses employing thousands of Sheffielder's, some of those jobs would be sneered at by the younger generation because they were in noisy and dirty environments, however many of those youngersters who now have a university degree have ended up doing low paid jobs in retail etc ... because there are not enough interesting and well paid jobs that require their specific qualifications. The manufacturing jobs that Sheffield was built on have mostly gone, and in their place the service industry jobs have grown, but typically, working on the phones in a call centre must be one of the worst jobs going IMHO!
