Story by by Rob Smith
The Burngreave Ashram on Spital Hill held a meeting in November where I heard passionate discussions about the Masterplan that is creating a storm.
This will be wiping out the small trader!
All sense of community will be destroyed!
The rent rise will kill off today’s traders!
A repetition of Woodside that will drive out those on low income!
Properties and shops all along Spital Hill will be knocked down!
Ian Lee of the One World Healing Centre raised concerns about the consultation:
“There has been a lot of scantily placed information and meetings, gathering and disseminating fragmented information that, in reality, amounts to disinformation.”
Following these meetings petitions against the Masterplan have been circulating and the organisors, naming themselves Spital Hill Local Voice have released a joint statement.
They say they support regeneration that is already happening organically. They want to retain Spital Hill’s historic character and enhance, not threaten, the multi-cultural and multiracial character which brings visitors from all over the city to worship, shop and eat here. They say the Masterplan has blighted the area and should be withdrawn, replaced by a participative, co-operative, planning process led by the New Deal.
I asked New Deal director John Clark if he realised that people feared current businesses would not survive the change, “Yes Rob,” agreed John “I guess that is a genuine concern. These are questions that mean the consultation is far from finished.”