Save Sharrow cemetery!

Bastards! They nicked half the cemetery 20 years ago, and now they want the rest. That's not a masonic temple by the way. The old masonic temple is opposite the library on Surrey Street, and the location of the modern one is in the phone book!

to make a comment....

-follow the link in the above post...
-copy/make a note of the "council reference"...ie 06/01866/FUL
-go to "application search" on the left of the screen" and click it
-paste in the council reference, and hit enter or click search
-click to view it on the right
-submit comments at the top

bingo!

Sheffield City Council are the same people who want to take away the Street Piano.

See the website for more on this.

...just someone who put in a planning app - they don't need permission of the council or the owners of the space to do that. Permission for turning the church into a residential space has been turned down a few times before, but still worth commenting against.

Strongest arguments are that it is a community space and that the grounds as a whole are a designed gardens (by the same person who did botanical gardens) so fencing off a part of it would ruin the space as a whole. Liked the idea of it becoming a community centre - hope something develops on that before any more vultures move in...

Direct link to comments page:  http://planning.sheffield.gov.uk/publicaccess/dc/DcApplication/application_detailview.aspx?caseno=J02VPKNYFD000

Sign the Petition!

 http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveourchapel

"Hey Dudes,

Its crisis time for the cemetery not to mention my job! A new developer has put in a planning proposal for the Anglican Chapel (the big black one with the spire) to develop luxury flats for one (mega rich) family. ( http://planningdocs.sheffield.gov.uk/WAM/showCaseFile.do?appType=DC&appNumber=06/01866/FUL)

If this is accepted the chapel and a large section of the cemetery will be fenced off as a private garden. This will not only ruin any chance of developing a sustainable future for the site as a public park but will also leave me out of a job (as im meant to be restoring it for combined community use).

SOOOO in true cemetery stylee we are proposing a "Save the chapel" benefit gig some time in early July with petitions to stop the development (preferably with a licence this time :) ). It is crucial that we get as many signatures as possible to ensure that the proposal is refused
otherwise the people of Sheffield will lose access to a huge chunk of the cities heritage as well as about a quarter of the cemetery land.

We must have all objections registered by the 14th July if we are to stop it. If anyone can lend a hand or knows anyone who can please tell them to get in touch with me. We already have Sequoia sound system on board but the more the merrier! We will also need logistical help with gennys stages sound etc if anyone can help? We gotta stop this one!! Spread the word!!

peace an love (except to rich developers)

Gus

Angus Hunter
Operations Manager
Sheffield General Cemetery Trust
Email :  sgct@gencem.wanadoo.co.uk

i have read the planning application in full online and it has my full support.
there are bigger issues here than "angus hunter's" job.
the chapel is crumbling and the professional attention it will get when converted into a dwelling house is the restoration that it badly needs and having viewed and walked through the site many times i have seen little evidence of any restoration work being carried out on the chapel.
the asertion that over a quarter of the cemetery land will be lost if the planning application is approved is an exaggeration and anyway any land that is lost to public use is no big deal private gardens are nice and if the chapel is converted into flats then the residents should have some garden space.

Much love and respect to Monkey for his support, but I'd urge people not to squat the chapel, since it would be premature (there's still a fair chance that the planning application will be dismissed out of hand) and possibly counterproductive (you'd need to break in, which ain't going to help the 'we want to protect this historic building' angle). Maybe in the future, though – but only if the current polite campaign doesn’t work…

As well as emailing comments on the Council website, you can direct letters of objection to Planning Officer Margaret Smith at the Planning Department, Howden House, S1 2HH, and write to the Star/Telegraph through their website ('Contact us' then 'Letters to the editor').

In case anyone was wondering: as Josh’s misleading and wilfully ignorant post suggests, has no interest in preserving the chapel for either posterity or the local community. Only one of his many ridiculous points deserves answering: the lamentable condition of the chapel at the moment is the result of years of neglect by the current owner, Mr Sherazi, who has put forward a number of unsympathetic development proposals for the site, all of which have been refused. The council is currently engaged in legal proceedings to compulsorily purchase the chapel from him, as he has neglected his legal obligation to maintain this Grade II Listed building in the condition in which he purchased it.

Letters of protest, whether to the Council or the papers, could mention the following:

1. Steve Wilkinson (the developer) has a history of buying up, restoring badly, and selling on - he was responsible for what happened to the Glossop road baths (now a Wetherspoon's with timber cladding, plastics external plumbing and neon signs). There’s nothing to stop him selling the chapel on as soon as the conversion work is done, and if he gets permission to convert it to single residential use that makes it easier for the next owner to convert it to multiple residential (i.e. executive flats or student accommodation), which means more vehicles, more wheely bins, and possibly more structural changes and extension of the private grounds – this could be the first step towards a stealth conversion of this site into a privatised ‘mixed-use’ leisure/retail/residential area. It should be mentioned that Wilkinson’s plans are manna from heaven for Sherazi, since they will allow him to offload the chapel for a decent profit before the Council can complete the zero-profit compulsory purchase.

2. The chapel is an integral part of a Grade II Listed landscape. This development would involve the destruction of a section of the Cemetery Road wall, the erection of fencing that will intrude on the rotunda area in front of the chapel, and the construction of a new roadway within the Cemetery grounds. This, along with the allocation of approx 9000m2 of grounds for a private garden, will ruin the form and appearance of this heritage landscape, and severely restrict public access to it.

3. The chapel is a bat roost, but the plans do not mention what is to be done to protect the bats, as required by law.

4. Noise restrictions pertaining to proximity to residential areas would mean that licences for community events like Peace in the Park would be harder to obtain, and the closure of a large piece of Cemetery land will mean the loss of established rights of way used regularly, especially by families and the elderly – is it really worth damaging a valuable social resource like the Cemetery to provide one well-off developer with an investment opportunity? The chapel can and should be given over to community use, for which highly developed and sympathetic plans exist (contrary to what Josh would have you believe). If the Council turns down the application and takes the site from Sherazi, these plans will be one step nearer realisation.

That’s it for now. We can beat this. Keep the faith.

The fight’s to save the Chapel is going brilliantly, but it ain’t over yet: Mr Wilkinson is submitting new plans. If we’re going to fight him off, we need to keep public attention focussed on the campaign. Here’s how to do it, and have fun at the same time: ZOMBIE MARCH!

The gory details…

• Gather this Friday (28th) at the Cemetery Gatehouse (end of Cemetery Avenue, off Ecclesall Road) between 1 and 2 pm, to get into your finest zombie glad-rags and make-up. The awesome folk at Party Town on Eccy Road are sponsoring the event, allowing us free costume rental (small deposit required) and make-up for the day, but costumes will be limited so please try to bring your own. Ragged/Victorian/skeletal, or any combination of the three, but dressing up isn’t mandatory.

• Around 2.30pm, we’ll shamble along Ecclesall Road, Hanover Way, Broomspring Lane and Division Street, to arrive at the Town Hall around 4.30-5.00pm, where we’ll hand in the 3500-signature petition and hopefully talk to the press/TV (release to go out on Wednesday).

• We could also do with bearers to help carry a coffin – don’t panic, it’s actually very light, and we’ll be taking it in turns.

• Got a camera? Take good photos? Bring it!

• Also, make and bring banners - "Save the Chapel", "Hands off our Home, Mr Wilkinson", "Zombies for Justice", “RIP Sheffield General Cemetery…?” – witty if possible, but please, nothing that’s going to offend anyone.

• We’ve got quite a few people on board already – at least 30 – but the more the better, so please forward this to anyone you think might be interested.

• Dole moles, summering students, ladies and gentlemen of leisure: no, you DON’T have something better to do. Take a day off sunbathing, and make a difference. If Mr Wilkinson and his kind are allowed to carry on regardless, there’s going to be nowhere left in this city to sunbathe.

That’s all you need to know. If you haven’t heard the latest developments regarding the Chapel plans, please read on…

A grand total of 3500 signatures have now been collected by the Save the Chapel campaign – thanks to everyone who signed, and to everyone who has been involved in the various events and actions that have made the campaign such a success. It’s worked so well, in fact, that Mr Wilkinson (who submitted the plans) is now running scared, and is aiming to submit another application on the Chapel with more "sympathetic" plans: probably less visible alterations to the outside of the chapel, and almost certainly less Cemetery land pinched for private garden space, but you can bet your bottom dollar that the internal structure will be pretty much the same – Mr Wilkinson says he wants to build a ‘family’ home, which under current proposals involves the creation of six double bedrooms, all with en suite facilities. In other words, this luxury flats by the back door, but the new plans are likely to be accepted by the board on planning grounds – unless we keep up the pressure. Keep your eyes and ears open for more events, a new petition, and new details of how, where and where to raise official objections. We’ve already beaten this nonsense once. We can do it again.

Kum By Ya, people. See you Friday.

This is an article from the Telegraph on June 23rd 2006 about the planned development.

Attached is the site plan and the floor plans for info...