City bids for funds to showcase cultural heritage

SHEFFIELD COUNCIL has submitted a bid to transform the city’s historic centre and put a spotlight on culture, heritage and art.

If successful, £20m from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund will be spent on three projects that aim to boost underused areas of the city centre, showcase the city’s cultural and arts scene and celebrate its heritage.

Specifically, the money would be used to redevelop the historic Castlegate area – where Sheffield Castle once stood – and support two new art and music destinations that are Park Hill Art Space and Harmony Works.

The council said Sheffield receives on average £16.4m less in regular arts funding than its peer cities every year. Councillor Terry Fox, leader of the council, said: “Castlegate is a hidden gem in the city centre with huge potential which we hope to unlock through the Levelling Up Fund. The area is already home to a lot of great businesses and it’s important to us that we put the groundwork in place to encourage further investment to the area, as well as linking the site up with the rest of the city centre through our awardwinning Grey to Green schemes and active travel routes.”

The plan for Castlegate would be to revive it as a focal point.

Land around the site would be prepared for future uses for education, employment and encouraging healthy lifestyles.

The council said any development would be done sensitively and in accordance with its historic past, with the preservation of archaeology a priority.

Councillor Douglas Johnson, City ward representative and executive member for climate change, environment and transport, said: “It’s an area that needs a lot going into it because it’s not had a lot of investment for many, many years. It wants some transformative funding there.”

Some of the funding would also be used to create Park Hill Art Space on the Park Hill estate. The outcome of the bid is expected in the autumn.