The Sheffield and region economy

[NewcastleOwl]

Originally Posted by Stab.

I think that to make Sheffield City Centre a great place to enjoy as you have suggested above is to improve the retail offering, that alone will attract more people to the City, they will become more aware of what else the area has to offer such as the museums, theatres, restaurants etc. Private companies might see it as somewhere that they want to locate to (putting SCC's unhelpfulness aside for now), this in turn could mean that other bars and restaurants would take up space in the city which might also persuade some more hotel operators to take the plunge and open up around the city, this in turn might see our museums and theatres see an upturn in patronage, on top of that the untapped Sheffield Peak District could see some exposure if the marketing was up to scratch. It might also make the City Centre a desirable place to live to people other than far eastern students (no offence to them, obviously!)

Unfortunately, even the museums and galleries look like going down the pan!

They are sub-standard compared to a lot of other cities' anyway and now (unlike most of those cities) the bid for continued national funding has failed, so Sheffiled Museums and Galleries are facing massive cuts (I think I recall it was 25% of their budget). The decision looks set to be appealed but if that fails then surely a lot of them will have to close; yet another step back realtive to rivals.

As I say they were rather substandard to start with. For example the much celebrated re-fubished Weston Park still contains that tired old mouldy moulting stuffed lion; contrast this to the equivalent establishment in Newcastle (the Hancock / Great North Museum) where there's a whole Noah's ark of pristine stuffed contemporary and prehistoric fauna, plus extensive roman, greek and egyptian and general local archaelogical type displays. Then within a couple of miles there's also the briliant Discovery Museum and Centre for Life Museum; then there's the galleries... Looking at the sheer volume it's as though the City Fathers of Newcastle bequeathed a massive collection of artefacts from around the world on their fair city whilst the City Fathers of Sheffield bequeathed the odd rusty pen-knife.

[slother]

Originally Posted by TakeMeHigher

I've been doing a lot of thinking over the last three years about where a city centre can take itself. Eventually the conclusions begin to draw themselves. I simply don't believe that retail is the future of city centres.

Chasing large scale retail as a long term regeneration tool is doomed to ultimate failure.

Thanks for elaborating on your thoughts. As it turns out I quite agree with your thinking. While there is so little construction going on it's great to hear so many opinions on what it is exactly we should be building towards.

Jonathan Meades had this to say on retail-led regeneration back in 2009:

One of Britain’s problems is the Uniform Business Rate, a tax that is levied by central government nationwide, the effect of which is to jeopardise small businesses and allow the march of the supermarkets to go unimpeded.

It doesn’t have to be this way. In Spain, for example, there is positive discrimination in favour of small shops - big chains pay much higher business rates and the number of hours that supermarkets are allowed to open is restricted. None of this seems likely to apply to the UK, given the country’s mania for corporatism. There is a cross-party consensus in support of big business and, if ‘Call Me Dave’ Cameron gets elected, we can be absolutely sure that nothing is going to change.

I know nothing about commercial taxes so I'd be interested to hear some reaction to this. Should it ever be legislatively possible, would a tax break for independents in the city centre be desirable?

[Stab.]

Originally Posted by NewcastleOwl

Unfortunately, even the museums and galleries look like going down the pan!

They are sub-standard compared to a lot of other cities' anyway and now (unlike most of those cities) the bid for continued national funding has failed, so Sheffiled Museums and Galleries are facing massive cuts (I think I recall it was 25% of their budget). The decision looks set to be appealed but if that fails then surely a lot of them will have to close; yet another step back realtive to rivals.

As I say they were rather substandard to start with. For example the much celebrated re-fubished Weston Park still contains that tired old mouldy moulting stuffed lion; contrast this to the equivalent establishment in Newcastle (the Hancock / Great North Museum) where there's a whole Noah's ark of pristine stuffed contemporary and prehistoric fauna, plus extensive roman, greek and egyptian and general local archaelogical type displays. Then within a couple of miles there's also the briliant Discovery Museum and Centre for Life Museum; then there's the galleries... Looking at the sheer volume it's as though the City Fathers of Newcastle bequeathed a massive collection of artefacts from around the world on their fair city whilst the City Fathers of Sheffield bequeathed the odd rusty pen-knife.

I haven't been to any of the museums/galleries in Sheffield for a couple of years so might be a litle out of touch, but the way you describe Newcastle's museums makes them sound ten times better!.

Come to think of it, the last time I checked you could only go to the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet for half the year and Kelham Island was closed on a Friday & Saturday. Im sure this is only going to get worse

[Irish Blood English Heart]

Having been to both the museums in Newcastle mentioned and those in Sheffield I would say the Newcastle ones are indeed 10x better. They're far better than the ones here in York too (and free!).

[TakeMeHigher]

Newcastle's may be better, and Manchester's are definitely world class, but that won't improve the Sheffield Museums.

Undoubtedly, Sheffield has screwed up with our museums in the past. Weston Park is a playcentre, Graves is woeful and the lovely Ruskin, our very own little V&A, is long gone.

The industrial museums are stuck fast in the 70's, and the shockingly expensive knife, fork and silver salver museum on Arundel Gate doesn't hold anyone's interest for more than twenty minutes, once.

But we should have good museums, and we can have good museums, To put it right they require (in this order) strong leadership, clear vision, a genuine mandate from the public, and money. Cutting the service as a service is not the answer, which probably(?) brings us back to leadership.

[Mr Brightside]

Korean investment in £3bn landmark scheme

KOREAN giant Samsung has today agreed to take a 15% stake in 2Co Energy's £3bn Don Valley Power Project.

The deal will also Samsung Construction and Trading take on the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the project which will use carbon capture and storage technology to produce 650MW of clean energy from coal.

Yeon-Joo Jung, vice chairman and chief executive of Samsung C&T, said: “The Don Valley Power Project is defining the future of low carbon energy generation in the UK and we are delighted to be part of the project.

"Samsung C&T will work with 2Co Energy in the UK to create an international hub of knowledge and expertise in a vital new technology the rest of the world is looking to pioneer.”

2Co Energy is currently bidding for EU funding to help support the project and if successful could start construction next year.

Lewis Gillies, chief executive of 2Co Energy, said: “Samsung’s landmark investment is a major vote of confidence in the UK’s potential to lead the world in carbon capture and storage technology.

"The Don Valley Power Project is the largest and most cost effective CCS project in Europe and Samsung’s capability, strength and scale now make it Europe’s most deliverable CCS project as well.

"The regional infrastructure created by the project will help the UK lead a clean industrial revolution that keeps the lights on and boosts jobs, green growth and innovation."

The Don Valley Power Project will see captured CO2 piped to the North Sea where it will be used to help extract oil before being stored underground.

Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon, said: "Supporting a low carbon economy is vital to boosting UK growth and jobs in those regions that need them most.

"Samsung's landmark investment makes Yorkshire the natural choice for the first carbon capture and storage network in the UK and Europe."

Stephen Brown, director of strategy at CO2Sense, said: “The Don Valley Power Project will become an anchor for what could become the world’s first industrial CCS cluster. Samsung’s UK investment is a compelling signal to Government, the European Commission and industry."

...........

[RichJay]

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/busine...amrc-1-4600969

Top US group joins the AMRC

Golbal flight control systems specialist Goodrich Actuation Systems has become the latest leading aerospace business to join the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre as a top tier partner.

Goodrich Actuation Systems is part of Goodrich Corporation, one of America’s top 500 corporations.

It hopes research by the Sheffield University run AMRC will help it develop optimum machining, assembly and test procedures and machining systems that can run unattended during the night.

In the longer term, it hopes work at the Catcliffe-based AMRC on new materials and manufacturing technologies will help it develop new products and innovations.

Goodrich Actuation Systems vice president, Dale Ballinger, said: “We are looking to our membership to support our business on a number of levels, including improvement and step changes of our existing manufacturing technologies and capabilities, and support in the identification and implementation of new manufacturing and materials technologies.

“Apart from addressing our own needs, we have the opportunity to collaborate and work with other partners to address industry-wide needs.

“We gain the ability to learn from each other, about the direction that markets are taking and also what manufacturing technologies and trends are being employed to meet these needs.”

[BlueBelge]

Bump. There's a good chairman's synopsis here of what the LEP has been working on over the past 12 months and what their plans are for 2013. Interesting that he only mentions the 'dotforge Accelerator' and not the wider 'CloudCity' initiative that was being trumpeted a few months back. Fingers crossed that it's just a case of negotiations taking longer than anticipated.

http://www.sheffieldcityregion.org.uk/2013/01/blog/

[trader blade]

Originally Posted by BlueBelge

Bump. There's a good chairman's synopsis here of what the LEP has been working on over the past 12 months and what their plans are for 2013. Interesting that he only mentions the 'dotforge Accelerator' and not the wider 'CloudCity' initiative that was being trumpeted a few months back. Fingers crossed that it's just a case of negotiations taking longer than anticipated.

http://www.sheffieldcityregion.org.uk/2013/01/blog/

Isn't this is?

http://www.sheffieldcityregion.org.uk/cloudcity/

UTB

[BlueBelge]

Originally Posted by trader blade

Isn't this is?

http://www.sheffieldcityregion.org.uk/cloudcity/

UTB

Yes, but unlike most other initiatives there's no mention of it in the chairman's review. Just seemed a little odd given the mini flurry of news about it a few months back when they revealed they were talking to technology giants about siting data centres in the region and that they expected to make positive announcements by the end of the year (2012).

[TakeMeHigher]

It's a different project.

[High Ho]

£23m property fund brought to South Yorkshire

http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/yorkshire/83900-

Anyone got a clue what this is all about?

[TakeMeHigher]

It's alternative finance. The criteria are not those which a traditional lender would use though. You will see a few of these popping up in the next few months.

[admann]

Originally Posted by Stab.

Whilst I appeciate your extensive knowledge, and understand your frustration at the City leaders for their inability to see a plan through, you also agree that the retail offering at the moment is the worst that it has ever been, but do you not think that Sheffield is in desperate need of SOME retail space improvement?.

I would second that, the retail offering in the 70s/80s was about 3x what it is now with the Moor and Castlegate being vibrant areas with many major Department Stores.

[gerryuk]

It seems overseas students are contributing over £120million to the Sheffield economy each year.

http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/...ents-1-5471555

[lewisskinner]

Ogston makes offer for CPP

Gotta be good news for the workers at the Chesterfield site

Ogston makes offer for CPP
27th March 2013

inShare
Share:By Ian Briggs - Editor, Yorkshire
CPP headquarters, Holgate Park, York
HAMISH Ogston, the majority shareholder in CPP, has made an offer to take the troubled credit card insurer private.

Mr Ogston, who made millions when the York-based company floated on the stock market, still owns almost 60% of the business.

Responding to recent movements in the company's share price, CPP said in a statement this morning: "The board of CPP confirms that it has received an initial, preliminary approach from CPP's majority shareholder, Mr Hamish Macgregor Ogston CBE, at an indicative price of 1p per ordinary share, which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the Group.

"It should be noted that the approach is at an early stage and there can be no certainty that an offer will be made or as to the terms of any such offer, should one be forthcoming."

Shares in CPP jumped by around 40% this morning on news of the approach and were trading at 4.35p. The company's shares were trading at 235p in 2010.

Mr Ogston, who launched CPP in 1980 and holds a CBE, has been given a deadline of April 24 to make a firm offer for the business.

Earlier this week it was reported that the company was seeking to raise more than £40m to avoid falling into administration and putting almost 2,000 jobs at risk.

CPP's current lending facilities are due to expire on March 31. The company was hit by a £10.5m fine by the Financial Services Authority last year for mis-selling policies. However, the total bill is set to reach more than £33m.

For more company information on CPP visit TheBusinessDesk.com's Shares and Markets section: http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/yorks...group-plc.html

[PaulP]

Another scheme by the Council - this time to tax hotels...

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/busine...ield-1-5773821

"Numerous places around the world, including Paris, Rome and Venice, as well as cities in the US, capitalise on their popularity with a hotel tax."

Do they really think Sheffield is in that league with Paris, Venice, Las Vegas, New York? All that will happen is for the 'tax' to be passed on to the customers. In the case with my own employer, SHU, we pay for many hundreds of external guests to stay in local hotels (external examiners, conference attendees, etc). It would no doubt add significant amounts of money to our own expenses bill.

[AdamBlade]

Originally Posted by PaulP

Another scheme by the Council - this time to tax hotels...

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/busine...ield-1-5773821

"Numerous places around the world, including Paris, Rome and Venice, as well as cities in the US, capitalise on their popularity with a hotel tax."

Do they really think Sheffield is in that league with Paris, Venice, Las Vegas, New York? All that will happen is for the 'tax' to be passed on to the customers. In the case with my own employer, SHU, we pay for many hundreds of external guests to stay in local hotels (external examiners, conference attendees, etc). It would no doubt add significant amounts of money to our own expenses bill.

This is an absolute joke. Another example of Council workers sat trying to figure out how to maintain their budgets and not lose staff, without thinking about the significant detrimental effects their actions have on the local economy as a whole.