Memorandum submitted by Sheffield City
Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The attached paper provides a summary of the
role of British Waterways in the regeneration plans for Attercliffe,
Sheffield.
It summarises some of the key features of the
situation in Attercliffe, the core values of the approach embedded
within British Waterways and how that approach has been practically
applied on the ground.
In particular, it emphasises the blend of regeneration
and commercial values that are brought together to help both maintain
a vision for an area but also to ground it in the reality of implementation.
The paper concludes that this blend makes delivery
of a scheme more likely and probably achievable in a shorter timescale.
1. This submission is made as evidence to
the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee concerning the
Regeneration and Restoration role of British Waterways.
2. The context of this evidence relates
to work that British Waterways are undertaking in Sheffield, and
particularly in the district centre of Attercliffe. By way of
context, Attercliffe is a district centre in the former industrial
heartland of Sheffield. The modernisation of the steel industry,
and the massive restructuring of the local economy that followed,
has caused acute difficulties for Attercliffe as its former economic
base has changed radically. However, arising from two significant
masterplan exercises—one based upon economic rationale and
the other on social and housing rationale, the area is now addressing
a future role as a 21st century district centre responding both
to a new, emerging economy and developing economic activity in
its own right.
3. The role of British Waterways in acting
as "the bridge" between the macro masterplan exercises
and detailed design and delivery on the ground has been crucial.
The role that they have played has been underpinned by the following
key facts and attributes:
— A recognition that the canal that
runs through Attercliffe provides the key asset and catalyst.
— An early willingness to acquire strategic
property holdings adjacent to the canal and in the heart of Attercliffe.
— A recognition that a critical mass
of property holdings will be required to make a necessary impact.
— A deep rooted ability to understand
the regeneration values and process from the outset balanced with
commercial reality.
4. Schemes such as the Attercliffe scheme
require patience, a steady nerve and vision. British Waterways
in my view have displayed this, and this has been evident from
Board level commitment through senior executives to development
surveyors working "hands on" on the scheme.
5. Crucially, and in relation to this scheme,
the British Waterways presence as a partner with the City Council
has enabled practical progress to be made on the ground at a time
when it is occasionally difficult to move a scheme from drawing
board to actual momentum. In particular, British Waterways have
shown a willingness to acquire property as the opportunity has
arisen and in the best interests of the scheme, in effect consolidating
their landholding in a way that is commensurate with the targeted
outcomes. All too often in regeneration schemes, time at which
the practical application occurs on the ground is when many of
the early property opportunities have receded.
6. The consequence of this approach is that
we are now in the final phases of planning and acquisition prior
to implementation. This has been achieved through a very close
alignment of the efforts of British Waterways with local public
sector bodies, and a willingness from British Waterways to engage
at all times in creative masterplanning rather than to adopt a
challenging role aiming purely to secure best price rather than
best regeneration outcome.
7. Lastly, my experience of British Waterways
is they manage to best effect the blend between regeneration values
and commercial reality. The understanding of regeneration values
allows the vision to remain intact; the grounded approach to commercial
reality makes that vision much more likely to be implemented.
Sheffield City Council
March 2008
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