uk – benedict tetzlaff

Wi-fi plan for Sheffield City Centre announced

Sheffield City Council has revealed it is looking for a provider to
offer a free Wi-Fi service across the city’s Business
Improvement District (BID).

Under current plans, a contract would be awarded to an internet provider in
June, with the Wi-Fi service expected to be rolled in December this year.

The scheme, set to be approved by the Council’s cabinet next Wednesday
(18 January), would allow a provider to offer high-speed free connection in exchange for use of street
assets used to provide wireless communication services.

Councillor Leigh Bramall, cabinet member for business and economy at
Sheffield City Council, said: “This offer has the potential to place
Sheffield amongst the best connected cities in the country.

“Our ambition is to create the conditions that allow a super-fast,
digitally-connected and vibrant city to thrive. Our economy will benefit
and Sheffield will become more connected for people using the city
centre.

“But we’ll only appoint a provider on our terms – someone who will provide the service at no cost to the public or ourselves.

“We’ve tested the market and believe that a provider will be able to
offer the service we want for Sheffield in exchange for exclusive use of
council-owned street assets such as lampposts.”

The Sheffield Lib Dem opposition, who initially suggested the scheme, have also welcomed the news.

Councillor Richard Shaw said: “We’re really pleased to see the Labour Council have finally got a move on with this project after
we suggested it last year.”

“If this scheme is successful we hope that
they will be ambitious and look to roll out similar schemes in parks and
local district shopping centres.”

Under the proposed terms a provider
would offer a free-of-charge service, potentially including council-owned public
buildings such as the Winter Garden.

There are a number of free Wi-Fi
schemes operating in Sheffield, mainly in pubs and cafe chains, but these do not cover the open spaces
across the city.

‘Nothing agreed yet’ on Central Library five-star hotel plan

Sheffield City Council have told a public Town Hall meeting that all options remain open regarding a controversial plan to lease the Central Library and Graves Gallery building to Chinese developers.

The proposals, first brought to the council by
Sichuan Guodong last November, would see the current building become the city’s first five-star hotel, with the library relocated to a new site in the city centre.

The council have stated that they would seek the remaining of the Graves Gallery in the 1930s building, with a view to moving the art collection to the ground floor.

Sichuan Guodong have been given twelve months to assess the viability of a hotel in the Grade II listed building.

Addressing at times anxious members of the public, Councillor Jack Scott,
Cabinet Member for Community Services and Libraries, said:

“We at the beginning of a very long journey. It is, also, a journey that may not progress at all.”

“We’ve not signed up to do anything for definite, both parties can pull away from this discussion at any time during the twelve month period. ”

Acknowledging that the recent outcry over the handling of a mass tree felling operation had damaged Sheffielders’ trust in the authority, Councillor Scott said the series of meetings served as a way of rebuilding ties with the people of the city.

It was also revealed during the meeting that the short-term costs of urgent repairs to the Central Library building are expected to total £2.2million, and that long-term costs of making the existing site ‘fit for the future’ would be in the region of £30million.

The announcement of the plans has not gone without its critics since November, with many questioning the need for another hotel, and pleading for the council to take its time over a decision.

Rebecca Gransbury, a local book seller who often uses the library, started a petition
calling for the building to remain a library that now has over 10,000 signatures – double the 5,000 required for it to be presented to the council.

Speaking at the meeting after the councillors, she said:

“I don’t think it’s the council’s fault, but there’s not enough information at the moment. We need to have more of these meetings.”

“It’s all a bit one sided – we hear about a lot of the problems of the current library building, but we don’t hear much about the positives – it has a lot. The problem is, really, we can’t balance out the information with any concrete information about the new library.”

The revealing of the plans comes after Sheffield City Council and the Chinese
Sichuan Guodong Construction Group

last August signed a 60-year investment deal totalling £1billion, with £220million to be invested in the next three years.

Five-year fall in Sheffield HIV cases

The number of new HIV diagnoses per year in Sheffield has halved since the beginning of the decade, new figures show.

According to data released by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals under the Freedom of Information act, 28 individuals were diagnosed HIV positive in the city in 2015, down from a total of 55 in 2010.

It has also been revealed that 893 patients are currently being treated by NHS Sheffield for the virus.

A table listing the number of HIV diagnoses in Sheffield per year since 2010 can be seen below:

Sharp rise in Sheffield wheel clamping [news in brief]

The number of vehicles clamped in Sheffield for non-payment of road tax has soared, it has been revealed.

A total of 1,535 vehicles were clamped in 2015, up 48% on the 1,033 immobilised in 2014.

The figures, obtained by a Freedom of Information request to the DVLA, also found that a total of 237 vehicles were clamped in the first two months of 2016.