Communities Strategy - 2025 - 2035

Update: Thank you to everyone who contributed to this consultation

We finished our consultation on 14th September after speaking to and hearing from hundreds of people in communities around Sheffield. You can read more about how the consultation went in the newsfeed below.

Thank you to all the people, and the groups and organisations, that took the time to share their thoughts. Your words have been valuable and have helped us to make this a better strategy for communities in Sheffield.

The Communities Strategy was approved on 15th October, and the work to deliver is getting started. We'll use this page to keep you updated.

A Sheffield of Thriving Communities

Why we need a Communities Strategy

Sheffield needs strong and resilient communities. They are the foundation for everything we want to achieve. The Sheffield City Goals set out a shared vision of “a Sheffield of thriving communities”, and we believe communities are what bring us together and help keep us happy, healthy, and well.

But not all communities have the resources and support they need. As a council, we know we need to change how we work to better support everyone.

How we've written the draft strategy

Since February 2025, we've been speaking to community partners, people in communities, local councillors and council officers about how we can be better at listening to and working with and alongside our communities. We've taken what we've heard and worked with a Reference Group to write this draft strategy.

You can read more about this process here.

The draft strategy isn't the final product, and we need your support to get it right.

We'll publish the full draft strategy and a summary of the strategy on this page on 4th August.

Have your say on the draft strategy

From 4th August - 14th September 2025, we'll be asking the people of Sheffield for feedback on the draft strategy. We'll be going out into communities we haven't spoken to yet, getting out to public spaces and events, and asking people to tell us their thoughts online.

How you can have your say online

From 4th August, you'll be able to read the draft strategy and have your say on a survey on this page.

If you need the survey in a different format, please call: 0114 273 4631

Update: Thank you to everyone who contributed to this consultation

We finished our consultation on 14th September after speaking to and hearing from hundreds of people in communities around Sheffield. You can read more about how the consultation went in the newsfeed below.

Thank you to all the people, and the groups and organisations, that took the time to share their thoughts. Your words have been valuable and have helped us to make this a better strategy for communities in Sheffield.

The Communities Strategy was approved on 15th October, and the work to deliver is getting started. We'll use this page to keep you updated.

A Sheffield of Thriving Communities

Why we need a Communities Strategy

Sheffield needs strong and resilient communities. They are the foundation for everything we want to achieve. The Sheffield City Goals set out a shared vision of “a Sheffield of thriving communities”, and we believe communities are what bring us together and help keep us happy, healthy, and well.

But not all communities have the resources and support they need. As a council, we know we need to change how we work to better support everyone.

How we've written the draft strategy

Since February 2025, we've been speaking to community partners, people in communities, local councillors and council officers about how we can be better at listening to and working with and alongside our communities. We've taken what we've heard and worked with a Reference Group to write this draft strategy.

You can read more about this process here.

The draft strategy isn't the final product, and we need your support to get it right.

We'll publish the full draft strategy and a summary of the strategy on this page on 4th August.

Have your say on the draft strategy

From 4th August - 14th September 2025, we'll be asking the people of Sheffield for feedback on the draft strategy. We'll be going out into communities we haven't spoken to yet, getting out to public spaces and events, and asking people to tell us their thoughts online.

How you can have your say online

From 4th August, you'll be able to read the draft strategy and have your say on a survey on this page.

If you need the survey in a different format, please call: 0114 273 4631

  • Thanks for contributing to the consultation!

    A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the consultation on the draft communities strategy both online and in person.

    We had a very busy August and September, getting out to Fun Days and celebrations at Parsons Cross, Wynn Gardens, Wybourne, Tinsley, Richmond, Sheffield Futures and Pakistan Muslim Centre, and speaking to people at Central Library, Totley Library, Moor Market, S12 pantry and the Move More Disability Sports Event.

    Our Youth Voice team also spoke to young people at four youth clubs in Longley, Lowedges, U-mix and Westfield as well as the Sheffield Youth Cabinet.

    We were able to work with 10 community organisations to have more in depth conversations with people about the strategy content, to get their feedback and ask if anything was missing for their communities. This helped us to reach communities that we didn't speak to in the engagement phase.

    - Duke Street Church

    - Tinsley Forum

    - Community Stars (Medina Mosque)

    - Football Unites Racism Divides

    - Woodhouse Community Forum

    - Parsons Cross Forum

    - Stocksbridge Leisure Centre

    - Disability Sheffield

    - Meadowhead Christian Fellowship - Jordanthorpe

    - Firvale Community Hub

    What we heard through consultation

    Throughout the consultation, the people we heard from both online and in person were generally supportive of what the strategy aims to achieve, but there was a strong message that Sheffield City Council needs to work hard to rebuild trust in communities.

    "“The Communities need to see SCC action more visibly (to help with trust)” Firvale Community Hub

    Part of this is about getting the basics right and providing safe, clean environments.

    Many people were concerned about rising tensions in communities and said that there need to be more opportunities for communities to come together.

    "Communities in Sheffield are changing and changing rapidly. People feel left behind by these changes." Have Your Say Sheffield

    We also heard about how people felt that funding wasn't always fairly distributed across the city, and that it often isn't enough in the first place.

    "It all comes down to funding and not enough of it." Totley Library

    People wanted council officers to be much more visible, helpful, friendly faces in their communities. And they wanted the council workforce to be much more representative of different communities in Sheffield, especially in leadership positions.

    We'll share a more detailed report once the strategy has been approved.

    Making changes to the strategy

    Since the consultation ended on 15th September, the team has worked quickly to make sense of what we heard through Have Your Say Sheffield and our in-person consultation activities. We worked with the Reference Group made up of four local councillors, four council officers and four representatives from community organisations to process this and decide what changes we would need to make to the final strategy.

    What's next?

    The strategy will be taken to the council's Strategy and Resources Committee for approval on 15th October. But it's not just about having a shiny new document, it's the work that follows that really matters. The wheels are already in motion to begin much of the work set out in the commitments as soon as the strategy is signed off.

    If you work with community group or organisation in Sheffield and you want to get involved in the next steps, join us for this event on 20th October:

    Working together to shape how we work with and invest in VCFSE Tickets, Mon, Oct 20, 2025 at 1:30 PM | Eventbrite

  • What we've been doing - Week 1

    supporting image

    Raising awareness online

    In our first week we had over 600 visits to this page. We’re really keen to keep up momentum so please help us to share this survey far and wide.

    We’re seeing some really interesting comments coming through in the survey responses and we’ll share some key points next week.

    Speaking to the people of Sheffield

    We’ve also been out to Richmond Fun Day on Wednesday and Moor Market on Thursday to speak to local people about the strategy and what it might mean for them.

    Some of the big themes we’re hearing are:

    • People want more activities and spaces for young people

    • People want safer, cleaner spaces to come together more generally

    And here are some quotes from what we heard in our conversations:

    “We need services that overlap”

    “I’ve been passed from team to team”

    “The people of Sheffield are more lively, more welcoming and more open to me!”

    “People need to know what’s out there”

    An easier to read summary

    We also received an email to say that we needed a version of the strategy that’s easier to read, so we’ve written a new summary using plain English. This version is roughly reading age 11 and is a high level summary, so most of the detail will still be in the draft strategy document. We hope you find this useful and please continue to share your feedback.

Page last updated: 23 Oct 2025, 12:22 PM