It could see parts of the Norton Nurseries site turned back into parkland – after years of controversy
Glasshouses at the former Norton Nurseries siteAuthor: Roland Sebestyen, Local Democracy Reporting ServicePublished 4 hours ago
Last updated 4 hours ago
A council committee has made a vital decision over a long-running row about the future use of the Norton Nurseries site at Graves Park in Sheffield.
Sheffield City Council’s Charity Trustee Sub-Committee has today (September 8) decided to accept the option “to reduce the footprint of the Norton Nursery operational base occupied by the council whilst allowing Parks and Countryside to continue to use the site as a base to service green spaces, including Graves Park under a formal five-year licence agreement with appropriate market-based charges.”
This option also includes a public consultation.
At the meeting, Cllr Fran Belbin asked the officers to explain what the public consultation would be about.
She was told that the question would be about what to do with the site. She was also told that there were a number of proposals for future use.
As reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) last week, the site is currently being used as the parks department’s depot to store vehicles, equipment and rubbish collected from parks before disposal.
The site is currently being used under a short-term licence until November 30 to give time for a solution to be found.
Ahead of the meeting, a report to the committee said three options were recommended.
The charity agrees to the council’s use of Norton Nurseries for the maintenance of Graves Park and other city green spaces, under a formal five-year licence agreement with “appropriate market-based charges”.
The footprint of the depot would be reduced, whilst allowing the parks and countryside department to continue to use the site as a base to service green spaces, including Graves Park, again under a five-year licence agreement with charges.
Withdraw all council operations from Norton Nurseries, with maintenance services being provided to the Graves Park charity from an alternative operational base.
Option four would have involved withdrawing all council operations from the nurseries, with the charity either delivering its own maintenance services or outsourcing them from another provider through a contract.
At the meeting, members heard that after the current, short-term licence, there is a need for another short-term licence for the use of the entire existing base up to 12 months, and after that it would revert back to five years.
So the space could be shrunk down (and equipment to be taken away) within 12 months of the decision today and then move to the smaller base with that five-year licence.