Ecclesfield Conservation Group

Our next meeting is on 2012-05-21 (Monday) at 19:30 in The Stocks. Everybody interested in any of the items on the Advance Agenda is welcome to join us.

Click here for earlier agendas and minutes.
--- NEWS ---
village signs icon
Village signs                                    
We are considering possible sources of funding to enable us to erect village signs at the entrances to Ecclesfield. Anybody who is interested in this is especially welcome to come to our next meeting to talk about this. Click on the picture on the left, or Click here to see more village signs¬.
                                             Heritage Board
Click on the thumbnail on the right, to see pictures of the unveiling of the Industrial Heritage Board on Ladycroft Meadow on St. Mary's Lane.
If your computer is as old as mine, then it is probably better to click on any picture you want to display, and then on the back button when finished. However, a modern computer should give a nice smooth slide show.

 Junction between Church Street and St. Mary's Lane
Industrial History in the making?
Walking along Green Lane, we could not help seeing a huge yellow bridge-like structure being constructed on the Butterthwaite Lane Business Park. Since it looks like nothing we have ever seen before, we asked the owners, and was amazed to hear that Engineering is not only still alive in Ecclesfield, but that it is still making history. Something which also deserves publicity perhaps.
One of bells at St. Mary's Church
New Bells in St. Mary's Church                                

Lots of pictures of the new and refurbished, bells, now installed in St. Mary's Church, and some pictures of the old bells have sprung up all over the Internet. Some of them can be seen here...
http://www.looklocal.org.uk/detail.php?id=2534¬
http://www.stmarysecclesfield.com/Picture_Gallery.html¬ http://philhirstgardens.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/ringing-in-the-changes-new-bells-at-ecclesfield-church/¬
http://www.ecclesfieldtower.org.uk/Bells.html¬
Coping Stones
Ecclesfield seems to be loosing the stone copings from the tops of its many traditionally built walls.We have written a letter to Sheffield City Council. However, if while we are waiting for a reply, anybody wants to see photographs of the problem, comment or suggest a solution, then they can do so at Ecclesfield Conservation Wikia¬.
                                              Traffic
In response to our petition and our two surveys of the traffic on Church Street, the Northern Community Assembly have prepared an extremely large and thorough report. (Click the following link to see details of both our traffic surveys). The report acknowledges the difficulty which pedestrians have in crossing Church Street due to the amount of traffic, but says that it is difficult to find a good site for a crossing. The report, and our request remains on file, but we understand that the project is not recommended for inclusion in this years limited budget.
Junction between Church Street and St. Mary's Lane
Map showing the Bradbury site
  Bradbury's planning approval                              
Sheffield City Council have emailed us their reasons for their having conditionally approved the plans for a Garage/Workshop on the "Bradbury's Haulage site between Yew Lane and Town End Roads (as modified in January 2012). This follows our letter of objection, the objections raised by nearby residents, and the objections of Councilors. The Report of the Area Board  is available at 11/03358/FUL¬. We note the conditions made, including the requirement for a landscaping belt along the southern edge of the site, and that use of the new building is restricted to 08:30 - 18:00 Mon-Fri, and 09:00 to 16:00 on Saturday, with no working on Sundays or Bank Holidays. We also note the report's comment that approval of permission for the site is "Despite its clear incompatibility with its location".

Although controlled by its visitors rather than by the Ecclesfield Conservation Group, clicking on the map opposite should bring up a Wiki entry showing the (already half-completed) building.
We note that the planning application for a mobile phone mast in the centre of the Grenoside Conservation Area has been withdrawn. Click on the picture on the right to see the application.
Junction between Church Street and St. Mary's Lane
We have decided to take a stand at the Ecclesfield Gala.
Map showing incidence of Violent Crime in December 2010 Click here to see a "crime map" for Ecclesfield, or here for South Yorkshire Police's Facebook page, or here to stay up to date with short timely messages from Sargent Hammond.
  • We thank Ecclesfield Parish Council for their grant towards the cost of the Christmas tree we are erecting in the grounds of St. Mary's Church. As a result, we are looking for a large conifer. If anybody knows of one that might be available, please email us at .
  • We are looking forward to decorating our (joint) tree for the Christmas Tree Festival. It can be seen in St. Mary's Church from 10th, 11th, 12th December (with refreshments and stalls - admission £1).
--- NEWS for Nov 2010 ---
  • Our proposed "Heritage Board" just missed getting the necessary number of votes at the "You Choose Event" event at Newton Hall, Chapeltown on 16th November. We are open to ideas for other sources of funding, so if anybody has any ideas, please email .
  • We are sending a special Christmas card to South Yorkshire Police congratulating PC Peter Booth for his recent awards and thanking him for his continuing good work as community policeman.
--- NEWS FOR Oct 2010 ---
  • We are helping the Bloom Group to spread soil and plant bulbs at Ladycroft Meadow (between St. Mary's Lane and the Park) on Saturday 30th October.
--- NEWS FOR AUG-SEPT 2010 ---
  • We thank everybody who called in at our stand at the Ecclesfield Gala on Sunday 5th September.
  • We passed a resolution supporting the efforts being made by Sheffield Wildlife Trust to purchase Greno Wood.
--- NEWS FOR JULY 2010 ---
  • Sheffield City Council's draft  "Development  Framework Map", is now closed for new comments, but the map can be seen here, using this key.
--- NEWS FOR JUNE 2010 ---
  • We were pleased to receive some historic pictures, which we have displayed here.
  • We thank our local Rotary Group for the good reception they gave our Chairman, and for the encouraging things they said about the possible renovation of the village stocks.
  • Lots of work has been done on LadyCroft Meadow. Materials were paid for by the in-bloom group, and we thank the two Payback teams for the work that they are putting in.
  • We welcome the new "Village Notice" board at the Morrisons entrance to Ecclesfield Park, and on Ladycroft Meadow facing St. Mary's Lane.
  • We were pleased to hear of plans to put a speed indicator on The Wheel.
  • We note the concerns about the fuel to be burnt at the controversial biofuel generation plant on Loicher Lane, and are monitoring progress (see below).
  • We thank the St. Mary's Lane Trust for their donation of £200
--- EARLIER NEWS ---
  • We have dug holes and planted 2 traditional Medlar trees and 1 Mulberry tree on St. Marys Church Green next to Priory Road.
  • We have received an email from the new owner of the Ecclesfield Methodist Chapel asking if we know of any organisations interested in renting/leasing the building. See Sheffield City Council's Conservation Area Appraisal, section 7.21. There is now a planning application for the building, some aspects of which we have objected to.
  • The entrance to the Old Quarry off Town End Road has been cleared up and bulbs planted.
  • Both of the sign posts have now been refurbished and installed outside St. Mary's Church. See http://ecclesfield.wikia.com/Conservation.
  • If anybody notices dead horse chestnut trees, or even dead branches, please inform the owners (E.g. Sheffield City Council) or Click here for advice
  • You can see (and even comment on) the work that we have done on the Priory Road wall, at http://ecclesfield.wikia.com/Conservation . We are likely to do further work on the steps.
  • We have helped plant four trees on the land adjacent to Town End Road as part of the "Ecclesfield Improver Project". We thank Sheffield City Council Parks Department for providing such special trees.
  • We have a draft document looking at the meaning of Townscape Merit.
  • You can Email us on . Just say if you want to be emailed copies of agendas or minutes, or if you want us to stop emailing.
--- PLANNING APPLICATIONS WE ARE MONITORING---
Aldi on the old Rollem Fabrications site. See application 11/01426/FUL¬ to see our letter commenting on the application.
--- PLANNING APPLICATIONS DECIDED---
The application for a Bio-fuel, Power station on Loicher Lane has been withdrawn. see application 09/02979/FUL¬ .
We note application10/01338/FUL "Old Methodist Chapel" has now been granted, but for 6 apartments (plus a resident caretaker flat), not the original 8. Further changes include an increases to the area of obscure glazing, which the Conservation Group wrote to comment upon.
(In case of difficulty viewing the planning documents above, click instructions for installing Adobe Reader)
---OTHER CONSERVATION DOCUMENTS---
Conservation Issues,   Letter from SCC about buildings in the Conservation Area
Aims of the Ecclesfield Conservation Group,      Constitution of the Ecclesfield Conservation Group     Ecclesfield Conservation Group procedures
Preserving what is best about the Sheffield Village of Ecclesfield
--- USEFUL LINKS---
Historic Buildings For Sale or Rent,   Pictures of Ecclesfield,   Walks around Ecclesfield,  other Ecclesfield Groups... www.ecclesfieldgroups.com
2007.07.06 Meeting with SCC Conservation Team.html

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