News » Sheffield Local Issues
The Real LORAX and Once-ler's of Sheffield's Street Trees Felling's / Sheffield Local Issues
I am sure many will have watched the LORAX movie with their children that acts as a warning of what can go wrong when corporate greed runs rampant resulting in the destruction of the environment. Unfortunately the people of Sheffield find themselves in a similar predicament as thousands of street trees are being felled by a corporate Once-ler giant named AMEY. In response to which many of Sheffield's ordinary citizens have turned into real life LORAX who speak for Sheffield's street trees. Against whom are martialed the forces of the establishment, a Labour controlled city council and it's £2.2 billion PFI contractor Amey. Where we have been increasingly witnessing the deployment of measures on the streets that go far beyond the realms of what one would expect from a British local city council, instead which resembles private militias roaming the streets along with their green vested evidence gatherers akin to something out of an eastern european dictatorship.
So here is a window into the world of the REAL LORAX, Once-lers and Thneedville Sheffield.
The Felling of Iconic Shefffield Ash Tree 'Milly' on Millhouses Lane / Sheffield Local Issues
For the past 3 months the Tree campaigners of the Millhouses area of Sheffield have put up a brave effort at attempting to save Millhouses Lane's big Ash tree 'Milly' that saw many tree campaigners out from dawn until dusk protecting the tree in all weathers, from late summer, to autumn right through to the bitter cold of late November into mid December. First came the cropping of 10 days ago that saw Amey / Acorn take street overhanging branches, but still the tree lived on, and so did the campaigners continue to brave freezing temperatures. Unfortunately on 20th December, Amey / Acorn came in the very early hours of the morning at around 4.30am to complete the felling of Milly. Which now stands no more, just a mere stump remains where once a mighty Ash tree once stood.
Here is the story of Milly's life of its last four weeks from a big strong Ash tree, to a heavily pruned half tree and finally into the last few hours that saw Milly's untimely demise.
And here are a few stills from the video:
The Real LORAX Explains What Happened to Sheffield's Street Trees 2017 / Sheffield Local Issues
We are the LORAX and we speak for the trees and I'd like to say a few words if you please, regarding the story your about to see it actually happened just take it from me. BUt there is more to this story than whats on a page so please pay attention whilst I set the stage. We open in Sheffield a city they say that was made of steel and coal and they liked it that way. A town hall without nature, not one living green , so what happened to our trees, cue the music lets see....
A few stills from the video :
Will Stripping Streets of ALL their Trees Crash Sheffield House Prices? / Sheffield Local Issues
Sheffield City Council's Streets Ahead PFI Contract with the Spanish Ferrovial family owned multinational Amey apparently also means that many of the Sheffield's tree lined suburbs are being stripped of virtually all of their big trees that have taken over 100 years to grow to their current house prices boosting splendour.
The big question is does felling of these community assets valued at approx £50k each (CAVAT method) also mean that the properties on these streets are also being felled?
We'll here's an example of what happened to one tree lined Sheffield street over the course of a couple of months during 2017 that was stripped of ALL of its street trees so you can make you your own minds up whether this street is now more or less appealing to prospective home buyers.
Sheffield City Council to FELL Iconic Chelsea Road Elm Tree / Sheffield Local Issues
The Labour run Sheffield city council has decided to fell Sheffield's best street tree, the Chelsea Road Elm that had been awarded England's second best tree of the year award by the Woodland Trust. This is despite repeated promises that it would not be felled, but with Amey's initial tree felling tranche of felling 6000 street trees nearing completion, so now those trees that previously had been deemed to have been saved are now set to be felled.
And this comes literally days after Sheffield Hallam MP Jared O'Mara told constituents that he had been told it would NOT be felled. Instead the Council warns that the tree would be cut down next summer. However a huge skip has appeared next to Elm tree and signs have gone up on Chelsea road that suggest the felling could begin barely 3 days from now, the 12th of September 2017.
The Chelsea Road Elm Tree had become the symbol behind which thousands of Sheffielders had campaigned to halt the wholesale deforestation of Sheffield's street trees, loss of capital value averaging at £60,000 per large mature tree felled, that has now been stripped from hundreds of Sheffield's trees, which inevitably will convert into loss of housing valuations of not those streets where trees have been felled but the whole of city has been devalued, now having become infamous for it;s council cutting down thousands of its best street trees.
Some stills from the video:
Signs that the felling may be imminent are a large skip having appeared next to the elm tree.
The road is to be closed to vehicles on the 12th of September
The Chelsea Road Elm Tree has recieved much mainstream media attention that includes BBC Look North and Calander News.
What Happened to Six Thousand Sheffield's Street Trees 2017 - Felling's Documentary / Sheffield Local Issues
Formerly Britain's greenest city, Sheffield has become infamous world wide for the felling of thousands of the cities biggest and best street trees. This documentary answers the many questions of exactly what is happening and why and what are the likely economic and environmental consequences to follow the initial felling of 6,000 trees by the by Spanish Ferrovial owned Amey, as the first tranche of 6000 trees to be felled nears completion. The consequences of which Sheffield will pay a heavy price for decades to come, and not just economic consequences in terms of lost capital value to Sheffield's property market, but health and environmental consequences, as at a time of heightened climate change awareness, Sheffield City Council is going in the opposite direction to recommended climate change alleviation measures of greater tree leaf coverage so as to soak up carbon from the atmosphere and offer people and properties shade during the ever hotter summer months.
So do watch this documentary to understand what is happening to Sheffield's trees, as the first tranche of 6,000 felled trees will likely be followed by many more thousands of trees to be felled in future years.
Here is our documentary that explains what has been happening to Sheffield's trees, as the first tranche of 6,000 felled trees will likely be followed by many more thousands of trees to be felled in future years.
Are Sheffield's High Rise Tower Blocks Safe? Grenfell Cladding Fire Disaster / Sheffield Local Issues
The residents Grenfell Tower have paid the heavy price for the cladding refurbishment craze that has been sweeping Britain for the past decade. One of 30 to 50 year old social housing tower blocks, many of which that should have been demolished but instead are being dolled up with cladding and insulation to reduce energy costs to make them externally more appealing to both residents, visitors and most importantly nearby affluent areas as was the case with Grenfell Tower, a pocket of social housing in Kensington, probably the most affluent area of Britain.
Britain has over 4,000 similar tower blocks across the land which has triggered city councils to in a panic start checking the materials used to refurbish and clad their own tower blocks. Sheffield has over 100 tower blocks across the city, many of which have recently been refurbished with exterior cladding.
So are Sheffield's High RIse Flats Safe?
And how many more Grenfell's until the local authorities arrive at the logical conclusion that most of the tower blocks built during the 1960's 70's need to be torn down and rebuilt.
By Nadeem Walayat
"Keeping up With the Khans" FULL Series1 - Channel 4 Alternative Reality / Sheffield Local Issues
The full series 1 of "Keeping up with the Khans" alternative version to Channel 4's rendition is now available to watch online in its eternity.
Episode 1: "About Page Hall" - https://youtu.be/ACD7Gps6fUg
Episode 2: "Where is UK?" - https://youtu.be/PRVDLkU7Des
Episode 3: "Sheffield Summer Fun for FREE" - https://youtu.be/SHPmIikLsXE
Episode 4: "Sheffoslovakia - Migrants, Benefits and BrExit" - https://youtu.be/soDzIUYjz4Y
Episode 5: "Sheffield's Parks" - https://youtu.be/Fbmzuf7XP0s
Episode 6: "Asian Weddings and Arranged Marriages" - https://youtu.be/_WLh02kFFVI
Episode 7: "Jesus Returns for Christmas in Sheffield" - https://youtu.be/1S__v-ovyrU
EU Referendum- Migrants, Benefits and BrExit / Sheffield Local Issues
A documentary about Sheffield that Channel 4 did not have the balls to make. I am sure you have all been enjoying being entertained by Channel 4's highly scripted fantasy picture of Sheffield, one of everything smelling of roses, literally singing, dancing and skipping in the streets as the viewers are led down the proverbial garden path that mostly ignores the crisis inducing consequences of 15 years of out of control immigration courtesy of the last Labour government that baldrick-esk had a cunning plan to import millions of new Labour voters from eastern europe so as to bolster their election chances.
Therefore this video will act as an antidote to Channel 4's scripted trips from London to Sheffield.
Remeber to check out the other videos in this series and subscribe for new uploads.
Episode 1: "About Page Hall" - https://youtu.be/ACD7Gps6fUg
Episode 2: "Where is UK?" - https://youtu.be/PRVDLkU7Des
Episode 3: "Sheffield Summer Fun for FREE" - https://youtu.be/KJuFVQlb2sc
Episode 4: "Sheffoslovakia - Migrants, Benefits and BrExit" - https://youtu.be/soDzIUYjz4Y
Episode 5: "Sheffield's Parks" - http://www.youtube.com/user/WalayatFamily?sub_confirmation=1
Where is UK? | "Keeping Up with the Khans" Episode 2 - Page Hall, Sheffield / Sheffield Local Issues
In Episode 2 of "Keeping Up with the Khans" we venture out of the Page Hall area of Sheffield after a short lesson on where the UK is, to find out where to shop cheaply and for some peace in the Town Hall Peace Gardens. Again it's not just Channel 4 that's out with a new series set in the Page Hall area of the City of Sheffield.
Remeber to check out the other videos in this series and subscribe for new uploads.
Episode 1: "About Page Hall" - https://youtu.be/ACD7Gps6fUg
Episode 2: "Where is UK?" - https://youtu.be/PRVDLkU7Des
Episode 3: "Sheffield Summer Fun for FREE" - https://youtu.be/KJuFVQlb2sc
Episode 4: "Sheffoslovakia and BrExit" - http://www.youtube.com/user/WalayatFamily?sub_confirmation=1
About Page Hall | "Keeping Up with the Khans" Episode 1 - Fir Vale, Sheffield / Sheffield Local Issues
I's not just channel 4 that's out with a new series set in the Page Hall, Fir Vale area of the City of Sheffield.
Find out in episode 1 what the Page Hall area is all about with key locations covered such as the school and the giant Northern General Hospital that's probably as large as the whole of Page Hall area itself.
Remeber to check out the other videos in this series and subscribe for new uploads.
Episode 1: "About Page Hall" - https://youtu.be/ACD7Gps6fUg
Episode 2: "Where is UK?" - https://youtu.be/PRVDLkU7Des
Episode 3: "Sheffield Summer Fun for FREE" - https://youtu.be/KJuFVQlb2sc
Episode 4: "Sheffoslovakia and BrExit" - http://www.youtube.com/user/WalayatFamily?sub_confirmation=1
Sheffield Where to Live? Best and Worst Areas Analysis / Sheffield Local Issues
Sheffield is Britain's fifth largest city with a population of 552,000 people that occupy's the south west quadrant of the county of South Yorkshire, which given its central UK position, prominent rail and motorway links is a favourable destination for national and international migrants from nearby towns and further afield given its relatively low favourable house prices.
Unlike London, many people contemplating moving to Sheffield will not find much information on the internet as to which are the best area's to live in especially as Sheffield is a large and diverse city offering a myriad of potential areas that can be very confusing to new comers, so whilst my recent article was focused on Sheffield's area based house price trend forecasts, however this analysis only skimmed the surface of which are the best places to live in Sheffield.
Tesco - Sheffield Abbeydale Poor Service / Sheffield Local Issues
Tesco, Britains biggest super market has seen its profits crash by 23.5% to £1.39 billion for the 6 months to Sept 30th, surprising the markets and prompting many worried investors such as Warren Buffett to start existing their Tesco holdings (Buffet cut his holding near immediately by 1/5th) as clearly something is seriously going wrong at Tesco's resulting in competitors such as Sainsbury's winning market share away from Tesco, which illustrates that it's a lot quicker on the way down than it was on the way up!
Canon Dr Alan Billings Labour Party South Yorkshire Police Crime Commissioner Candidate / Sheffield Local Issues
Dr Canon Dr Alan Billings is one of 4 short listed Labour party candidates for South Yorkshire Police Crime Commissioner whom labour party members will vote on during the summer.
Canon Dr Alan Billings is a retired Anglican priest who has served at several churches including Sheffield where he was the Deputy Leader of the City Council. Confirmation of his candidacy remains pending as of writing.
The other candidates includes Kash Walayat, Cllr Shaun Wright and Meredydd Hughes.
New Darnall Community GP Surgery Health Centre Building / Sheffield Local Issues
Darnall Community Health consistently ranks as Sheffield's bottom ranking GP Surgery as measured by the Department of Health funded UK GP Patient survey in terms of overall satisfaction at the quality of healthcare received. The last analysed survey for the period to March 2011 featured more than 5.5 million detailed questionnaires being sent out to NHS GP patients across England of which 1.96 million were returned. For the city of Sheffield a total of 68,242 questionnaires were sent out to the patients of Sheffield's 92 GP surgeries of which 26,193 were returned from which detailed results were compiled as listed in the table at the end of this article.
Sheffield's Bottom 5 GP Surgeries - % Level of Overall Satisfaction
2010-2011 |
2009-2010 |
||
| HAROLD STREET MEDICAL CENTRE | 82% |
83% |
|
| HIGHGATE SURGERY | 80% |
76% |
|
| TINSLEY SURGERY | 80% |
89% |
|
| DARNALL HEALTH CENTRE | 76% |
73% |
|
| DARNALL COMMUNITY HEALTH | 70% |
68% |
Darnall Community Health languishes firmly at the bottom of Sheffield's 92 GP surgeries with a wide gap against other GP surgeries as other bottom ranking surgeries improve, DCH showed little improvement on the 2009-10 GP Survey (68%). The full results for all 92 GP surgeries are at the end of the this article with the results for the year to March 2012 due during June / July 2012.
Sheffield City NHS GP Health Centre, Walk in Centre Patient Review / Sheffield Local Issues
One Medicare (owned by One Medical) with much fanfare and glossy leaflet drops opened Sheffield's GP Polyclinic or Super Surgery in April 2009 that offered 7 days per week access from 8am to 8pm, situated near the centre of Sheffield on the corner of Rockingham Street and Broad Lane. The centre publicised that it was open to any person to walk in off the street and see a GP or nurse without a prior appointment (allow upto 3hours waiting time) and those choosing to register with the surgery would receive full NHS services, thus offering an alternative to patients stuck in the catchment areas of Sheffield's bottom ranking GP Surgeries.
Sheffield NHS UK GP Patient Survey Results for 2011 / Sheffield Local Issues
Nadeem Walayat writes: The latest results for the Department of Health Funded UK GP Survey have been recently released that covers the year to March 2011. The survey featured more than 5.5 million detailed questionnaires being sent out to NHS GP patients across England of which 1.96 million were returned. For the city of Sheffield a total of 68,242 questionnaires were sent out to the patients of Sheffield's 92 GP surgeries of which 26,193 were returned from which detailed results were compiled as listed in the table at the end of this article for the overall level of satisfaction at the quality of health care received.
Sheffield's Top 5 GP Surgeries - % Level of Overall Satisfaction
2010-2011 |
2009-2010 |
|
| BLUEBELL MEDICAL CENTRE | 99% |
94% |
| MANCHESTER ROAD SURGERY | 99% |
96% |
| NORTHERN AVENUE SURGERY | 98% |
95% |
| JAUNTY SPRINGS HEALTH CENTRE | 98% |
97% |
| STANNINGTON MEDICAL CENTRE | 96% |
98% |
The results show that Sheffield's best performing Surgeries continue to cluster in the affluent areas of the city, which is reflective of the 'post code lottery' where those that reside in the affluent wards due to more likely being professionals are able to demand a better quality of NHS GP services than those that tend to reside in the deprived wards who tend to suffer in silence as to what passes for health care provision which plays a significant part in contributing to a more than 14 YEAR GAP IN LIFE EXPECTANCY between peoples living just a few miles distance from one another, which has been commented upon in the past by the Sheffield MP and Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg :
"It is an outrage that social mobility has slowed, not increased, under the Blair-Brown years. It is an outrage that in Sheffield, where I’m an MP, life expectancy in the poorest wards is a full 14 years below the life expectancy of those living in the wealthiest wards. Your life chances are now set by the circumstances of your birth as never before."
New Darnall GP Surgery Health Centre Survery to be Built, Delayed or Scrapped? / Sheffield Local Issues
The Department of Health funded UK GP Patient Survey 2009-10 featured more than 5.5 million detailed questionnaires being sent out to NHS GP patients across England of which 2.17 million were returned. For the city of Sheffield a total of 65,339 questionnaires were sent out to the patients of Sheffield's 92 GP surgeries of which 27,380 were returned from which detailed results were compiled as listed in the table at the end of this article for the overall level of satisfaction at the quality of health care received for all of Sheffield's GP surgeries.
Of Sheffield's 92 GP surgeries, 24 or 26% managed to achieve a rating of 95% or higher, which given the importance of health care should be the minimum goal for ALL GP surgeries. Next 43 (46%) of Sheffield GP surgeries managed to attain a patient satisfaction level of 90-94% of their patients, 19 (20%) between 85% and 89%, followed by 6 GP surgeries scraping the bottom of the barrel, notably Darnall Community Health coming in at an abysmally poor bottom rank of just 68%.
Sheffield NHS GP Consortia's are Anti-Competitive / Sheffield Local Issues
The core at the heart of Coalition Government's NHS reforms is to scrap ALL NHS Primary Care Trusts (PCT's) to be replaced by competing GP Consortia's to directly manage patient treatment commissioning (the process could take 2-3 years to implement).
However whilst the media has been focused on the news of scrapping of all NHS PCT's, the flip side of the coin lies in the consolidation of GP practices into GP consortia's that is aimed at attempting to introduce real competition between GP surgeries for patients with the result that the under performing GP surgeries in cities such as Sheffield could disappear as they are unable to compete for patients in a more market orientated value for money environment due to their inability to provide health services to the satisfaction of a large % of their patients (as evidenced by the UK GP Patient Survey), thereby patients and resources are reallocated by market forces to the better performing GP surgeries, and therefore both patient healthcare improves and costs are cut.
Sheffield NHS Darnall Community Health, UK GP Patient Survey Results / Sheffield Local Issues
The latest results for the Department of Health Funded UK GP Survey have been recently released that cover the 4 quarters for September 2010. The survey features more than 5.5 million detailed questionnaires being sent out to NHS GP patients across England of which 2.06 million were returned. For the city of Sheffield a total of 67,842 questionnaires were sent out to the patients of Sheffield's 91 GP surgeries of which 26,865 were returned from which detailed results were compiled as listed in the table at the end of this article for the overall level of satisfaction at the quality of health care received for all of Sheffield's GP surgeries.
Sheffield's Top 5 GP Surgeries
| Level of Satisfaction | |
| THE HEALTH CARE SURGERY | 98% |
| MANCHESTER ROAD SURGERY | 98% |
| RUSTLINGS ROAD MEDICAL CENTRE | 98% |
| NORTHERN AVENUE SURGERY | 97% |
| JAUNTY SPRINGS HEALTH CENTRE | 97% |
The results show that Sheffield's best performing Surgeries continue to cluster in the affluent areas of the city, which is reflective of the 'post code lottery' where those that reside in the affluent wards due to more likely being professionals are able to demand a better quality of NHS GP services than those that tend to reside in the deprived wards who tend to suffer in silent as to what passes for health care provision which plays a significant part in contributing to a more than 14 YEAR GAP IN LIFE EXPECTANCY between peoples living just a few miles distance from one another, which has been commented upon in the past by the Sheffield MP and Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg :
"It is an outrage that social mobility has slowed, not increased, under the Blair-Brown years. It is an outrage that in Sheffield, where I’m an MP, life expectancy in the poorest wards is a full 14 years below the life expectancy of those living in the wealthiest wards. Your life chances are now set by the circumstances of your birth as never before."
Sheffield NHS UK GP Patient Survey Results for 2010 / Sheffield Local Issues
The Department of Health funded UK GP Patient Survey presents an excellent record of the actual quality of patient experience of using NHS GP services across England. The 2009-10 Q4 survey results have now been released that bring the total detailed questionnaires being sent out to patients during the year to more than 5.5 million across England of which 2.17 million have been returned.
For the city of Sheffield a total of 65,339 questionnaires were sent out to the patients of Sheffield's 92 GP surgeries of which 27,380 were returned, from which detailed results were compiled as listed below for the Overall Satisfaction category for all of Sheffield's GP surgeries ranked in order from best to worst.