Connecting Sheffield: City Centre

As part of our work to make bus journeys into the city centre more direct, and to improve safety in the area, we've installed new pedestrian crossings so there are now safer crossing points across all four arms of the junction of Rockingham Street and West Street. And we're continuing work in this area to allow buses to make the turn into Rockingham Street.

We need to change some of the road markings, including in the new loading bay and taxi bay, outside the Jobcentre on West Street. We'll need to do this work overnight, as we can only work in the area when the tram isn't running. We plan to work overnight on Monday 8 December and Tuesday 9 December. There will be temporary traffic lights in place, and we're writing to residents and businesses nearby with more detailed information about the work, which can be noisy.

Bus services will move from the stop on Carver Street to a new stop that we’ll install at the top of Rockingham Street. You'll still be able to interchange to other services at the Rockingham Street bus hub, including the free Sheffield Connect service. But if you need to be in and around West Street, the new stop will be near the junction of Rockingham Street and West Street. The Sheffield Connect will continue to serve the Carver Street stop. We'll provide more information on this soon.

These changes will make bus journeys into the city centre more direct and give easier access to the Rockingham Street bus hub, where passengers can interchange onto other services including the free Sheffield Connect.

Over the last month, we’ve been replacing kerbs on Pinstone Street near the Town Hall and replacing parts of the footways towards the bottom of Pinstone Street around Charles Street. We're about to start the next phase of works, which will include:

• Replacing kerbs and footways from Cheney Row to Cross Burgess Street on the Radisson side of the street to make walking and wheeling easier.
• Replacing footways and carriageway at the bottom of Pinstone Street from Furnival Gate to Charles Street to make walking and wheeling easier.
• Realigning kerbs on Arundel Gate to help direct traffic towards Charles Street rather than the bus gate. This will also help pedestrians by making crossing distances shorter, improving visibility, and creating more opportunity for additional bus facilities.
• Making the left-turn clearer from Furnival Gate into Matilda Way, to direct general traffic away from the new bus gate being implemented north west bound on Furnival Gate between Matilda Way and The Moor.
• Changing the layout around the Q-Park exit on Charles Street to improve the cycle route that passes the car park entrance.
• Replacing the footways and carriageway on Surrey Street, to make walking, wheeling and cycling easier.

So we can do the work at the bottom of Pinstone Street, we’ll need to close the road to vehicle traffic. Vehicles delivering to the Heart of the City will need to follow a diversion from Furnival Gate to Charles Street via Arundel Gate to access Cross Burgess Street. We currently expect this to be in place during the week of Monday 25 August, but please look out for signage on street.

This will mean redirecting traffic through the Furnival Gate bus gate. Because of this, we won't issue penalty charge notices to traffic driving through the bus gate for the duration of the works. We'll put signage up in the area to make this clear, and we’ll communicate when the works are nearly done and the bus gate will return to normal operation.

Before we open up Charles Street (at the Pinstone Street junction) for access to the Heart of the City, we'll also resurface Cross Burgess Street and Cambridge Street. Although parking restrictions on these roads won’t change, the new surface will be the same red colour that we'll use on Pinstone Street. Cyclists will also be able to use these roads in both directions – so we'll update signage to make drivers aware.

With the new kerbing in place on Charles Street, and it being opened up as a through route to enable works on Pinstone Street, we've reassessed access to the five parking bays in this area. We've decided it would be more appropriate to keep them out of use. We're sorry that this is a change to what we’ve told you before – but the spaces were always due to be removed as part of the final project. On and off-street parking will still be available across the city centre, which remains open for business.

You can find more information about other parking in the city centre on our website: https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/parking/city-centre-car-parking

On Surrey Street, we’ll work from Fargate down to 43 Surrey Street, Bird Opticians. We will close the road in this section to outside Bird Opticians, but will keep an area clear for businesses to load and unload while the closure is in place. We will also add new temporary disabled parking bays on Surrey Street, which will be accessible during the works but removed as part of the final scheme. The temporary bays will be available at all times on the Town Hall side and during the evening only on the opposite side.

Following conversations with businesses during consultation, we will advertise a new Traffic Regulation Order to enable the permanent loading arrangement on Surrey Street. We currently expect this consultation to start towards the end of August.

All businesses will be open as usual during the works, and we’ll make sure you can access them all.

We expect to do most of the works during the week, from 9am to 5pm, but we will be working some evenings during weeks commencing Monday 18 August and Monday 25 August to replace the paving on Charles Street. We need to work nights to avoid disruption to businesses as the work is close to entrances.

Although we’ll work in phases, we expect some work to continue in these areas until the project is complete, which we currently expect to be in Autumn 2027.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, you can let us know by email.

We're progressing well with the work around the junction of Rockingham Street and West Street to make crossing safer for pedestrians. We're also working to enable buses to turn into Rockingahm Street to make public transport journeys into the city centre quicker and more reliable.

We’ve almost finished the works on the footway outside the Jobcentre, and we're starting work outside West Street Live.

After speaking to businesses in the area, we'll complete all the works in this area and outside the other bars nearby during July and August, ahead of Fresher’s week in September. This next phase of works will involve paving the footway (including the old loading bay, which will become part of a widened footway), kerbing, ducting, drainage, and signage.

We won't be working during Tramlines weekend, Friday 25 to Sunday 27 July. For travel information for Tramlines, visit the Travel South Yorkshire website.

We removed the temporary ‘lego bricks’ along West Street on Saturday 12 July, replacing them with alternative measures for now. We also added regular gaps in the fencing around the work site to maintain safety. A more permanent solution is part of this section of works and we expect to install this during the week commencing Monday 21 July.

You'll still be able to access all the premises in the area, and the taxi rank and loading area opposite West Street Live will be useable until September this year.

We started work on the Connecting Sheffield: City Centre project in February 2025. We’ve been replacing kerbing on Pinstone Street near the Town Hall, and replacing footways towards the bottom of Pinstone Street around Charles Street.

This will help to create more space for people, make the area more attractive and support our cleaner, greener, thriving city centre.

We’re about to start replacing the footway on Charles Street itself, on the Post Office side of the road.

Work will start in this area on Monday 7 July, and we expect it to last for around five weeks. To make sure our contractors can work safely, we need to suspend the parking bays on Charles Street while we do these works.

We understand this may cause some disruption, and we apologise for the inconvenience. You can find information on alternative parking in the city centre on the Sheffield City Council website.

We're starting work on Saturday 24 May to change the junction of West Street and Rockingham Street.

We will change the junction with West Street to include pedestrian crossings all around the junction, and to allow buses to turn into Rockingham Street. We'll make the section of Rockingham Street between West Street and Division Street two-way for all traffic, and we will introduce a southbound bus gate between Devonshire Lane and Wellington Street. This will give buses travelling towards Charter Row priority access. It will also make bus journeys into the city centre quicker and more direct, and create a safer environment for pedestrians.

Planned works

We will do the work to enable the changes between Saturday 24 May 2025 and Friday 28 November 2025.

The first phase of the works will replace the kerbs and paving and improve drainage at the junction of Rockingham Street and West Street. These works will take place from Saturday 24 May 2025 to Friday 30 May 2025. We'll work alongside a separate Supertram closure taking place that week to minimise disruption.

Once we've completed these initial works, we'll move to start work on the footway on the side of the junction outside the Bailey Court Jobcentre. These works will take place between Monday 2 June 2025 and Tuesday 1 July 2025. We'll be replacing kerbs and paving here, and adding ducting and street furniture.

We're also planning further works between Wednesday 2 July 2025 and Friday 28 November 2025, We'll keep this page up to date with more details nearer the time.

Managing disruption

We will do the first phase of works alongside the planned Supertram closure. This means we can avoid needing a separate closure, which will reduce the impact on local residents, businesses and road users.

Replacement bus services will run during the tram closure from Saturday 24 May to Friday 30 May. There's more information on these below.

So our teams can carry out the first phase of work safely and effectively, we'll need to use some temporary traffic management. This will include:

• Temporary four-way traffic lights regulating road traffic from each arm of the junction of West Street and Rockingham Street.
• Temporary fences and blocks on the footways as we’re working. We'll only put these up around the sections we’re working in. This will reduce the impact on pedestrians and ensure we can keep footway access along at least one side of the road throughout the works.

You'll still be able to access restaurants, bars and nightclubs near the junction throughout the works.

When we start work outside the Bailey Court Jobcentre between Monday 2 June 2025 and Tuesday 1 July 2025, we'll need to use temporary traffic measures so our teams can work safely and effectively. These will include:

• Closing the footway to pedestrians between 7am and 7pm each day. We'll reopen the footways in the evenings and overnight, and we’ll maintain access to the Jobcentre. You can cross the road using the nearby crossings at Carver Street and outside Tesco Express.
• A one-way closure of the section of Rockingham Street between Portobello Street and West Street for motor vehicles travelling towards West Street. Vehicles will be diverted along Portobello Lane and Mappin Street.

We'll also need to suspend the bus stop outside the Jobcentre so our teams can work on site. Buses will use the nearby stop on Carver Street instead during the works. Once the changes are introduced, and buses can turn into Rockingham Street, we will remove the stop outside the Jobcentre.

We won't need to do any night working as part of this first phase of works.

We'll do all we can to reduce the impact on local residents. We apologise in advance for any disturbance this may cause.

Replacement bus services

While we're working and trams aren't running to Cathedral from Saturday 24 May to Friday 30 May, replacement bus services will run for the Blue and Yellow tram routes. They'll serve some bus stops along the affected routes.

The BL1 service will run between Cathedral and Malin Bridge and the YE1 service will run between Cathedral and Middlewood, serving limited bus stops located near all the affected tram stops along the routes as follows: 

The BL1 and YE1 services will operate:

• Monday to Saturday: every 20 minutes in the early morning, every 12 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes in the evening
• Sunday: every 20 minutes in the early morning and during the day, and every 30 minutes in the evening

The BL1 and YE1 services will operate via Langsett Road during the day and Penistone Road after 7pm.

You can find out more about the replacement bus services and timetables on the Travel South Yorkshire website.

You can use any valid tram or multi-modal ticket to travel on the BL1 and BL2 replacement bus services.

Implementing the changes

We will implement most of these changes initially through an Experimental Traffic Order (ETO), so we can trial them before deciding whether to make them permanent, amend them or remove them.

But we will install some elements, such as the pedestrian crossings, as permanent features straight away through a separate Traffic Regulation Order (TRO).

ETOs can stay in place for a maximum of 18 months while we monitor and assess the effects. You can provide formal feedback on an ETO for the first six months after it’s implemented.

More information and getting in touch

We'll keep this page up to date as the project continues. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, you can contact us through the following channels:

• Email: info@connecting-sheffield.co.uk
• 9am-5pm Freephone: 0808 196 5105
• Freepost: Freepost Connecting SHF

We’re starting work on our Connecting Sheffield: City Centre project to make walking, wheeling and cycling easier.

We’re working in phases to keep disruption to a minimum while we make current temporary infrastructure permanent.

On Monday 10 February, we’ll begin to replace some of the kerbing outside the Town Hall on Pinstone Street. This initial phase will involve a short stretch of footway and a layby, and we’ll finish here in early April. We’ll complete the rest in a later phase of work.

We’ll also be working to replace a section of the temporary footway and remove the double kerbs at the other end of Pinstone Street, close to the top of The Moor, on the Union Street side of the road. We expect this area to be finished in May.

We’re working with residents and businesses in the area too to keep them informed about our plans and work schedule, but we will make sure we maintain access to all shops and other businesses in the area affected.

When the work is complete, these areas on Pinstone Street will be more attractive and improving the footways will make it easier to get around our cleaner, greener, thriving city centre.

We’ll keep you updated as the works progress here.

South Yorkshire’s Mayor, Oliver Coppard, has approved £21 million of investment into the Connecting Sheffield: City Centre project.

The funding will help to deliver the project, improving public spaces and connecting key developments like the improvements on Fargate, Heart of the City and The Moor.

Cllr Ben Miskell, Chair of the Transport, Regeneration and Climate Policy Committee said,

“Sheffield is changing, it’s transforming into an incredible city offering something for everyone whether you’re a resident here or visiting from further afield. Our Connecting Sheffield: City Centre project links up all we have to offer, from great shops to services, dining and entertainment offerings we now got in the Heart of the City, our fantastic shopping experience at The Moor and the new Fargate project as it nears completion. This investment will contribute further to the ongoing transformation of our cleaner, greener, thriving city centre.

“By giving you more space in the city centre, and more choice in how you travel, we can reduce congestion on the roads to make bus journeys more reliable, and give you safer walking, wheeling and cycling routes that will connect to other parts of the city. We’ve already created more direct routes for buses in the centre too, and the Connecting Sheffield: City Centre project will make travelling into the city centre by bus an even more realistic option.”

Construction is due to start on the project in January 2025, and the Traffic Regulation Orders to make the required changes to roads are being advertised until Thursday 17 October. To view the orders and comment, visit https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/roads-pavements/traffic-orders

Oliver Coppard, South Yorkshire’s Mayor, said: “Building a healthier, wealthier and happier South Yorkshire is central to my ambition as South Yorkshire’s Mayor.

“This important city centre project will not just give us greater freedom and choice about how we travel and move, but will also support our plans to make South Yorkshire the healthiest region in the country.

“It is part of the steps we are taking across our region to build new walking and cycling routes over the next three years - creating better places and more opportunities for us all to move more and move differently.”

Funding was approved by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) Board on 8 October and forms part of SYMCA’s £166 million Transforming Cities Fund investment across South Yorkshire.

You may have noticed that there's more space on the footways on Pinstone Street and Leopold Street recently.

Now that buses are using more direct routes through the city centre, we've removed the shelters on these streets to open up the footways. This will create more room for people, and for events, as part of the Connecting Sheffield: City Centre project to improve our public spaces and connect key developments in the city centre.

Pinstone Street with bus shelters removed

We are now advertising the Traffic Regulation Orders we need to enable the changes we're making to the city centre to improve our public spaces and create more space for people.

You can see the details of the Orders in the images below. They were advertised on Thursday 19 September 2024. To comment, whether you support or object to the plans, please email scheme.design@sheffield.gov.uk

You can view more information on the Sheffield City Council website.

TRO - Bus Gate at the junction of Furnival Gate and Matilda Way to be operational at all times. Removing the existing bus lane on Arundel Gate travelling towards Castle Square (where the Arundel Gate Bus Gate operates), and installing a bus lane on the opposite side of Arundel Gate travelling towards St Mary's Gate. This will be operational at all times, and will stretch from opposite Arundel Gate Mini-Interchange to opposite the Central Library.

TRO for Furnival Gate Bus Gate and Arundel Gate bus lanesView this image as a pdf so you can zoom in

TRO - A 20mph zone along Arundel Gate, Castle Square, High Street and Commercial Street.

TRO for 20mph zone along Arundel Gate, Castle Square, High Street and Commercial Street

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TRO - Changes to one-way traffic systems on Charles Street, Union Street, Pinstone Street, Surrey Street, Barker's Pool and Cross Burgess Street.

TRO for changes to one-way systems in the city centreView this image as a pdf so you can zoom in

TRO - Changes to Pinstone Street, Surrey Street and Norfolk Street for pedestrians and cycles only, with loading and unloading access at certain times. No access for motor vehicles between Pinstone Street and Barker's Pool, or via Charles Street between Union Street and Pinstone Street.

TRO for changes to Pinstone Street, Surrey Street and Norfolk Street

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TRO - Waiting and loading restrictions on Cross Burgess Street, Pinstone Street, Surrey Street and Norfolk Street.

TRO for waiting and loading restrictions on Cross Burgess Street, Pinstone Street, Surrey Street and Norfolk Street

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TRO - Changes to implement one-way access from Milk Street to Norfolk Street.

TRO for changes to access from Milk Street to Norfolk Street

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TRO - Prescribed right turn from Milk Street into Norfolk Street.

TRO for prescribed right turn from Milk Street into Norfolk Street

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TRO - Parking restrictions and disabled parking provision at certain times on Norfolk Street.

TRO for parking restrictions and shared use bays on Norfolk Street

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TRO - A 7.5T weight limit on Norfolk Street, Union Street, Charles Street, Brown Street and Union Lane.

TRO for proposed 7.5T weight limit on Norfolk Street, Union Street, Charles Street, Brown Street and Union Lane

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TRO - Restricted parking zones on Division Street and Cambridge Street.

TRO for proposed restricted parking zones on Cambridge Street and Union Street

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TRO - Restricted parking zones on Pinstone Street, Cross Burgess Street, Cambridge Street, Charles Street, Union Street and Union Lane.

TRO for restricted parking zones on Pinstone Street, Cross Burgess Street, Cambridge Street, Charles Street, Union Street and Union Lane

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TRO - Restricted parking zones on Cross Burgess Street, Pinstone Street, Charles Street, Union Street and Union Lane, and disabled parking provision on Union Street.

TRO for restricted parking zones on Cross Burgess Street, Pinstone Street, Charles Street, Union Street and Union Lane, and disabled parking provision on Union Street

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TRO - Replacing bus stop clearway on Leopold Street with disabled parking bays, retaining loading bay and existing no waiting and no loading restrictions.

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