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The old Crookes Valley Methodist Church in Crookesmoor Road “is in imminent danger”, says Sheffield City Council. Although the listed building is in private hands, the council is preparing, if necessary, to carry out the repairs itself to halt the deterioration.

The council is worried not only about saving the prominent structure but also the effect on the neighbourhood. Officers at the planning meeting 29 June 2009  issued an urgent works notice, which would now allow the council to make the complex secure and watertight and to remove flytipping, unless the owners, Leeds-based Northern Eye, take swift action themselves, they have 28 days to act and appeal. The minimum cost is estimated at £100,000. The authority could then seek to recover “any reasonable costs”. At the same time the council is preparing to issue a compulsory purchase order for the building so it can then sell it to a third party “who are committed to repairing the building to the satisfaction of the council”.

Following the 28 days, Sheffield City Council will put the work out to tender, this could mean another winter where this grade 2 listed grand old lady is left to further ruin, there are reports from urban exploers you need only look at the damge by lack of security and the so called Sqauters caused, following there free party, at the time we said:

crookes-valley church Is now squatted, we have been in and seems a youth den for drinking etc, underclasrising do not agree with this and if what we hear from some of the parents of those involved is correct then we disagree even more. There are better places for people to use and get shelter from, this is not one at all, we will give them their due it was more clean than it has been, but to have events in the middle of a residential area such as this is a no go, plus there actions are just adding to everyday shit some of us get see more at derelictplaces.co.uk: and why we updated this page as the rumors have it that we are involved. No we are not and do not agree and would urge them to vacate, all they are doing is fucking up an already fucked up place and making our task of preservation more hard due to there crass actions. read Squatting: a basic Guide

urban and bucolic Exploration is a subject dedicated to the subversion of space via the exploration of local places in which capital is temporarily absent or in which capitalist functionality is suffocated by the presence of the marvellous. This was the intention for our own expeditions into these places and to publish photographs, it is also a catalist to get Sheffield City Council to act, this we have done, the owners Northern Eye turned up to the planning meeting 29 June 2009 and shed a few crocadile tears, dispite this we are still open to working with them to safe Crookes Valley Methodist Church it will be to at least Jan 2010 befor any work from Sheffield City Council will take place, this will only be to slow down the decay of this grand old lady, to issue compulsory purchase order order for the building so it can then sell it to a third party will take longer.

Sheffield City Council do fail to inform the people of Sheffield one truth, the fact in 2002 the issued a ntice to the then owners to re roof, and do works to bring it up to standerd, of course the rich Methodist was not going to spend such cash, they gave notice to community groups to vacate and by 2003 it was put up for sale, we was at the auction when English Land & Restorations of 398 Ecclesall Road, Sheffield bought the building, with a clear understand funds would be give to the re-roofing of the church, if they could fund the other works for its re-use into flats, once they had the buidling no such funds become available, due to this it was left empty but very secure.

In 2005  PJ Properties 194 Whitham Rd Sheffield, S10, 0114 266 7666 made an offer and it was sold to them, it was then the building began to fall into its current state, and though it is alleged, we are told they let scrappers and others go in and remove parts of the grade 2 listed building, talking to locals it is said they watched as deliberate damge was done to the roof and other parts, as active sqauters we know this is often an act to one prevent the building being squatted, and to let the buidling fall into a dangerous state and ruin there is no doubt this is what has happen here in our minds at least and we can neither conferm this, in 2007 it was sold to Northern Eye.

At the full planning meeting 29 June 2009 there crass claim of  Northern Eye to have spent upto 10 grand on securing the building is just rubbish, we have never broken into or had the need to break into the building, we have gone through open doors, and windows, our intent has allways been to take nothing but photographs leave nothing but footprints, it was us who talked with the so named squatters, but as said it was just a youth den for the school holidays of 2008, we knew some of them, we then talked with the parents and action was taken. We also raised serious concern at the rumour of its use for a free party (rave) one of them following on from an annual event Peace in the Park 2008 was the first year on the Ponderosa over the road from the church. The current state of this church is due the lack of proper security, we need only look towards Sheffield Crown Court, to see the impact of this.

Background:

Crookes Valley Methodist Church is a striking and imposing neo-gothic building 1.69 kilometres west-north-west of Sheffield’s city centre.  Its location and photographs illustrating its current condition  Crookes Valley Methodist Church, Crookesmoor Road was listed on 28th June 1973, at grade II, at which point the building was in good condition, given that it was then a functioning Methodist Church.

Crookes Valley Methodist Church, Crookesmoor Road is currently owned by a Northern Eye, of Silver Crest House, Wesley Road, Leeds, LS12 1UH.   Ownership commenced in early 2007. It was previously owned by English Land & Restorations of 398 Ecclesall Road, Sheffield.  The complex appeared at that time to be in reasonable condition externally, although there is evidence of break-ins and damage to windows and roofs.

Following several reports of break-ins, vandalism and the staging of a rave, officers from the City Council’s Dangerous Structures, Planning Enforcement, Urban Design & Conservation Team and the South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service have visited the site on several occasions over the last year of 2008, to assess and monitor the condition of the building. Streetforce have also undertaken work to secure the boundary of the site.

The current owners, Northern Eye, have undertaken a limited amount of work infilling vulnerable window openings in block work and boarding over ground floor, and some first floor windows, they claim this work has cost 10 grand plus.  However several holes in the roof remain and many upper floor windows remain unprotected, and no attempt has been made to address these problems

RECENT HISTORY OF THE BUILDING

The building was put up for auction on 18th February 2003, with a reserve price of £275,000.  The building subsequently sold for £465,000,  it has since changed hands; the details of this transaction are not known. On the 14th November 2003, permission was sought and on 23rd December 2004 approval was granted to convert the building to student accommodation, providing 79 bedrooms, grouped into flats, subject to the signing of a Section 106 Agreement.  This agreement was signed and the approval came into force on 12 December 2006.

Previously, in July 2005, informal enquiries were made by a Scottish based company, Euroscope Developments Ltd., who expressed an interest in acquiring the building, and developing an alternative scheme for it, should it become available at an acceptable price.  A recent approach to Euroscope Developments Ltd. suggests they may still be willing to take on the building. Separately, another informal enquiry was received, exploring the possibility of converting the church to a public house, along similar lines to the “Pitcher and Piano”, in the former listed Unitarian Church, on High Pavement, Nottingham. It is also understood that discussions have been held by the owners with an Islamic Organisation, with a view to converting the building to a Mosque.

On 16th November 2005, informing them of the Council’s concern at the condition of the building, and setting out the powers available to the Council, to secure the future of the building. No reply has been received to this letter, and the property was placed on the market with Mark Jenkinson and Sons, having been advertised in the Sheffield Telegraph on 25th November 2005. There is no report of the outcome of this auction, and it is considered that the property may have been withdrawn from sale. A report to seek authorisation under Delegated Powers was sought on 21 December 2005 to issue a Listed Building Urgent Works Notice, and to undertake preliminary work in relation to a Listed Building Repairs Notice.

Following the eventual sale of the building to the current owners, it was decided to suspend further pursuit of a Listed Building Urgent Works Notice, on the understanding that the existing permissions were to be imminently exercised.

A new set of applications (07/03584/FUL and 07/03583/LBC) have been submitted, and validated on 29 October 2007, for the conversion of the building to 58 no. student flats.  These applications received Listed Building consent on 14 October 2008 and Planning Permission, following the signing of the Section 106 Agreement, on 14 January 2009. It is understood that the mortgage provider and lenders to Northern Eye are currently reviewing their property portfolio, and associated development options, including Northern Eye’s commitments at Crookes Valley Methodist Church.

CONDITION OF THE BUILDINGS

A detailed internal inspection of the building has not been made: however, during the site visit on 28th April 2008, it was noted that the building was in  a poor and deteriorating condition, that there was the widespread evidence of dry rot, dead pigeons and droppings  , ingress of rain, blocked gutters and downpipes, broken windows and doors, missing roof slates, cracked and fallen plaster work and evidence of repeated episodes of break ins and vandalism, due to the entirely inadequate security and maintenance being afforded the building at the time.

Subsequent external inspections have noted a continued deterioration of the building, and that entry has been forced into the building on several occasions, in several locations. On Thursday 19 June 2008, trespassers were reported in the building, and for people were subsequently moved on by the police.  This matter was raised with the buildings owners, and the draft Urgent Works Notice was sent to the owners agents, together with a strongly worded letter, requiring that the building be made safe secure and weathertight as a matter of urgency. Further break ins, vandalism and deterioration have subsequently occurred, and although the owners have boarded a limited number of windows and restricted entry into the site and building, it is still deteriorating.

1. reports from 09
   
   http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=40111
   
   http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=3170
   
   Past 2003 2008:
   
   http://underclassrising.net/reports/crooksmoor.html
   
   http://projectsheffield.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/crooksmoor-church-and-live-infultration-29-5-08/
   
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/0742/sets/72157604770806592/
   
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/0742/sets/72157603436125766/
   
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/0742/sets/72157601970450917/
   
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/0742/sets/72157601922838780/

It is  important to dispel two widely (though separately) held assumptions. Firstly, this is not the protest vote against mainstream parties and useless locally elected representatives that many politicians would like us to believe. It is an increasingly hard and loyal vote which is based on political and economic insecurities and moulded by deep-rooted racial prejudice. This in turn is linked with a second myth, that the way to beat the BNP is simply to tack left and offer more socialistic policies. While this might peel off some BNP supporters who feel economically marginalised, it will not in itself address the strongly held racist views of many BNP voters.

As the YouGov poll (see below) clearly shows, the racism of many BNP voters goes well beyond simple opposition to current immigration and eastern European migrant workers which one might expect if their support for the BNP was prompted simply by economic insecurity. Belief in the intellectual superiority of white people over non-whites, the view of nearly half of BNP voters that black and Asian people can never be British, the almost universal dislike of even moderate Islam and the contempt and suspicion many of their voters have towards a liberal and multicultural society show how hardline much of the BNP support is and how it will take more than a more progressive economic policy to win them back fully.

More importantly, and regularly overlooked by politicians, activists and commentators alike, are issues around identity. As we have discussed before, the BNP is emerging as the voice of a forgotten working class, which increasingly feels left behind and ignored by mainstream society. As the YouGov research confirms, the majority of BNP voters feel that the Labour Party, for many their traditional political home, has moved away from them and is now dominated by a middle-class London elite who care more for Middle England and the interests of minority groups than for them.

Class politics exists but not as we once knew it. The Labour Party, in line with many other centre-left parties across western European and Scandinavia, draws the bulk of its support from the middle class, public sector workers and minority communities, especially in the big cities. The BNP, on the other hand, is the voice of a section of the white working class, particularly in those areas of traditional industry that have experienced the greatest economic and social upheaval over the past twenty years.

Most of the local authorities with the biggest BNP vote are in areas once dominated by the car, steel, coal or ceramic industries. All have gone, and those people able to leave have left. While some new jobs have replaced those lost, the work is generally lower skilled, short-term and further away from their home. In addition to economic difficulties the identity of the areas has collapsed, leaving behind a confused, resentful and alienated minority. This is the cultural war that the BNP has cleverly exploited, particularly by tapping in to people’s paranoia that outside forces are deliberately conspiring against them and giving preferential treatment to others (viewed by most BNP voters as undeserving).

Who votes BNP and why

A new survey into the attitudes of BNP voters has produced some startling revelations. Unsurprisingly BNP voters are overwhelmingly opposed to immigration and asylum seekers but a sizeable number also share the BNP’s hardline attitudes about citizenship and racial superiority.

It shows that BNP voters are predominantly working class, drawn from former Labour-voting households and feel more insecure about their economic prospects.

Conducted by YouGov from 29 May to 4 June, the survey questioned 985 BNP voters as part of a much bigger study of the political views of 32,268 people.

The study tells us that men are twice as likely to support the BNP as women, 44% of BNP voters are aged 35 to 54 and 61% are drawn from the social groups C2DE. One third of BNP voters read The Sun or the Daily Star, whereas only 13% read the Daily Mirror and those reading The Guardian and The Independent are statistically insignificant. One fifth claim to be members of trade unions or trade associations and 36% identify themselves as skilled or semi-skilled manual workers.

On one level the report tells us little new. More BNP supporters regard immigration as one of the key issues facing the country at the moment – 87% compared to 49% among all voters. Again unsurprisingly, 94% of BNP supporters believed that all further immigration should be halted. This compares with 87% of UK Independence Party voters, 68% of Conservative voters, 46% of Labour voters, 43% of Lib Dem voters and even 37% of Green voters.

Only 4% of BNP voters believed that recent immigration had benefited the country.

What is more startling is the strength of the racial attitudes of many BNP voters. In a result that gives the lie to the BNP vote simply being a protest, 44% (compared to 12% of all voters) disagreed with the statement: “non-white British citizens who were born in this country are just as ‘British’ as white citizens born in this country”.

Among BNP voters 21% strongly disagreed with the statement compared to just 1% of Greens and Lib Dems and 2% of Labour and 3% of Conservative voters.

More disturbingly, 31% of BNP voters believed there was a difference in intelligence between the average black Briton and the average white Briton.

Although only 2% of BNP voters deny that six million Jews, Gypsies and others died in the Holocaust, a further 18% accept that the Holocaust occurred but believe it has been exaggerated.

It is clear that the BNP receives support primarily on issues of race, immigration and identity but there is also a clear link with economic insecurity. Several of the questions probed respondents’ views on their current and future economic prospects. BNP voters repeatedly had the most gloomy outlook.

When asked whether they were satisfied that they had enough money to live on comfortably, 74% of BNP voters said no, compared to just 43% of Labour and 50% of Conservative voters.

On whether they were confident that their family would have the opportunities to prosper in the years ahead, 75% of BNP voters said no compared to just 35% of Labour voters.

Over half of BNP voters felt the financial situation of their house- hold would worsen over the next 12 months. In contrast only 29% of Labour voters agreed and 27% thought it would get better.

Again, more BNP voters thought someone in their family would lose their job in the current recession than supporters of other parties.

One of the most startling results was the response to the statement that “there is a major international conspiracy led by Jews and Communists to undermine traditional Christian values in Britain and other western countries”. Amazingly one third of BNP voters completely or partially agreed.

However, the significance of this response actually lies in the feeling of victimisation felt by many BNP supporters and cleverly exploited by the BNP itself. The view that they are losing out because of the conscious action of others is widespread among BNP supporters and it comes out clearly in this survey. Over three quarters of BNP voters believed that white people suffered unfair discrimination whereas only 3% thought Muslims did. Nine out of ten BNP supporters felt that councils allowed immigrant families to jump housing queues.

This feeling of victimisation coupled with a widespread belief that the Labour Party, which most once supported, at best no longer cares about them and at worst conspires against them makes these voters susceptible to the BNP’s big lie. It is hardly a surprise then that so many people in Barking and Dagenham were happy to believe the Africans for Essex myth.

Think of the balance of forces. On one side you have the Labour Party (which 57% of BNP voters think no longer cares about them), politicians (who 78% of BNP voters think are corrupt), senior officers in the council (who only 1% of BNP voters trust a great deal) and immigrants (who 87% of BNP supporters think are a problem and only 4% believe contribute anything positive). Then you have the BNP, the anti-establishment party speaking up for the forgotten white working class.

This survey is both predictable and disturbing. While immigration remains the dominant issue for BNP voters it is clear that they more than any other group feel economically insecure and politically abandoned. What is shocking is the depth of their racism and the alienation from mainstream politics. Support for the BNP goes far beyond being a protest, as some politicians would have us believe, and the racist attitudes will not disappear simply by improving economic conditions.

We should be under no illusion that a long and hard struggle lies ahead.

{notes}

http://theleftluggage.wordpress.com/

http://www.yougov.co.uk

http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com

http://barnsdale.wordpress.com

http://projectsheffield.wordpress.com

More than one in 20 under-35s plan to vote BNP at the next general election?

For the first time, it happened. No surprise, though. But there are lessons to be learnt, when we consider the repercussions of the election of members of a UK far-right party to the European parliament.

There should be little doubt about whether they are a far-right party – the British National Party (BNP) is, regardless of how it has tried to redesign itself, a party with radical racist and xenophobic views. Had this party come of age in the 1930s, their main target would have been Jews. Now a different group is being targeted: Muslims.

This follows a trend that exists all across Europe: the “new Jews” (ie, those who are now being discriminated against, as Jews were in the 1920s and 1930s) are invariably Muslims. A number of interesting studies have compared the public discourse around Jews in the 1920s with Islamophobic material in the mainstream press in Europe today – the results are not encouraging. It seems Europeans may not forget the Holocaust, but may forget what happened right before it.

What I was interested in after the elections, however, was not the similarities between how Jews were once perceived, and how Muslims are now perceived, but something else. The worry of Muslims overrunning Europe (essentially, the BNP’s fear) is shared by a growing proportion of people across the continent – to the point where one could begin to describe it as “a movement”. This movement that would be united by a fear, which they call “Eurarabia” (an amalgamation of “Europe” and “Arabia”). Many who share this fear are on the left, as well as in the centre – so, it cannot be said to be solely a “right wing” obsession. Indeed, this is something quite worrying – it is a xenophobia that can find sympathisers across many different sections of European society.

Nevertheless, the core of this group is on the right, and that raises interesting questions. Why the right? And what sort of repercussions does that imply for the future in terms of Muslim-non Muslim relations within the UK, and beyond?

In the UK, as well as across Europe, the left was the party of those who felt disenfranchised. The overwhelming majority of Muslims in the UK today are not descendants of indigenous Britons who converted to Islam, but the descendants of recent migrants to the UK who generally came from very modest backgrounds. Naturally, it was the left (particularly the Labour Party) which endeared itself to the Muslim community, from which it received overwhelming support. The right had the opposite experience – historically, rarely appealing to the disenfranchised, and more given to conservative views as to how the “nation” was constituted.

Such was the state of play in the 1970s until the 1990s. One of the ironies of this situation was that when it came to values, Muslims often shared the right’s focus on family and tradition. For more pragmatic reasons, they affiliated with the left.

The last decade has changed a lot of that. Labour went to war in Iraq – a war that turned out to be baseless, in a country that happened to be a predominantly Muslim country. Many in the Muslim community have become more enfranchised, and historically when migrant communities progress economically, they often become more interested in participation in centre or centre-right positions on the political spectrum. The left’s hold on the Muslim community has been broken.

But, coming back to the BNP’s wins, what do these political histories mean now for Muslims in the UK? While most Muslims are expressing fears about the intensifying discourse (which frankly borders on hate-speech), some are calling for their community to engage with the right wing with more seriousness. It’s a sign of maturity that rather than simply describe the BNP as being far-right extremists, some Muslims are asking: why is there support for the BNP in the first place? What have Muslims done, or not done, to create the conditions for that support to emerge?

All strata of British society are trying to analyse what has happened, and certain trends are emerging. Some want to deny any responsibility for themselves by condemning every voter for the BNP as a repentant racist, who simply cannot be helped or (worse) understood. But others are trying to understand why so many have now turned to the BNP, and where their resentment comes from, in an effort to remove those conditions for the future.

Both of these trends are also represented within the Muslim community. In their reaction to the BNP victories, Muslims have actually been shown to be more British than they might have been years ago. That’s a far cry from the common media perception of Muslims as unintegrated (and, often, incapable of being integrated) but it is borne out by the limited polling data we have on the attitudes of Muslims in the UK. More than the average non-Muslim, Muslim Britons are hopeful for the future of their country.

Matters are likely to get worse before they get better – this shift to the right has taken years and it will probably take a long time to settle in a more stable position. In the meantime, we may see Muslims joining centre-right parties, and drifting away from left wing politics.

That is surely good news for democracy in general – no part of the political spectrum should have a monopoly on a particular ethnic community. But matters will continue to deteriorate unless British and European society as a whole faces up to those who fear “Eurarabia” – not simply to shout them down, but to deconstruct their arguments with facts and examples of people who prove their fears unwarranted.

The BNP might not realise it, but they could turn out to be a good catalyst for the integration of the Muslim community: by reminding non-Muslims in Europe how ugly the far-right can get, and encouraging Muslims not to have their vote monopolised by a single part of the political spectrum.

The National (UAE)

Hisham Hellyer is a fellow at the University of Warwick in England and director of the Visionary Consultants Group

So The Liberal Democrats’ recent ’success’ in securing a review of the listing of the CO-OP building illustrates an ongoing lack of foresight for the architectural development of this city we name Sheffield, not only from them but The former Labour administration, it also reminds us there is nothing in between both the former Labour and Liberal Democrats administration and is us the people of Sheffield that are the losers in such power struggles:

Their suggestion that retention of the CO-OP building will prove a barrier for regeneration is beyond frustrating it crass – including individual buildings of varied architectural styles and periods in a regeneration scheme can make a clear and confident stamen t about both the history and revival of any city – a note of acknowledgement to our past , encompassed by plans for our future

By demanding higher design criteria for regeneration of the immediate area and recognising that present day solutions are (often) highly unlikely to match the quality and specification in buildings like the CO-OP, and countels others lost or simply just left to ruin, the council could achieve a new benchmark by reviving this notable building and not simply taking the easy route to a potentially bland and uninspirational end result, but we need only look towards West One, none of what was promised in the formal planing application has been forthcoming and we are now left with a substandard, block of apartments much the same is going on across the city, if the administration of the Liberal Democrats are serious in there intent they why is planing been given for more of the same?

We are undergoing arguably the second largest regeneration process in our history and whilst we agree as anarchist some 21st century aspirations are crucial,(building for after the revolution) some acknowledgement of how revolutionary foreword look was the likes of Roy Hattersley has been a socialist and Labour supporter from his youth, electioneering at the age of 12 for his local MP and city councillors, beginning in 1945. His own mother, Enid Hattersley, was a city councillor, and later, Lord Mayor of Sheffield . He was one of the predecessors in rebuilding the city in the 50’s and 60’s will illustrate Sheffield’s appetite to be a leader in creative architectural solutions, and for a while they worked it was only The former Labour administration that failed these projects, and the people of Sheffield.

Look towards the wonderful monalitic architecture of Park Hill named Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement, The former CO-OP falling into this form.

The English Architects Alison and Peter Smithson coined the term in 1954, from the French béton brut, or “raw concrete”, a phrase used by Le Corbusier to describe his choice of material. The term gained currency when the British architectural critic Reyner Banham used it in the title of his 1966 book, “The New Brutalism“, to identify the emerging style..

We should not, as in so many cities across the UK, be prepared to happily abandon buildings of architectural and cultural merit in a desperate bid to attract profit driven new build development solutions but work harder to achieve a unique and innovative compromise, using our widely recognised design history as a starting point, not a drawback. Imagination and creativity have not proved strong points of this council, it is high time they developed some enthusiasm in the potential of our city and took positive steps to generate excitement about utilising the past as part of the future of Sheffield..

We need only look over the road from The CO-OP at that Crown Court that stands derelict on Waingate in central Sheffield, opposite Castle Market. under there lie the ruins of Sheffield Castle constructed at the confluence of the River Sheaf and the River Don, possibly on the site of a former Anglo-Saxon long house, and dominating the early town. The remaining stone foundations date from a stone castle begun in 1270, the oldest part of the building is the Fish and Vegetable Market, constructed in the inter-war period. The remainder of the building was constructed by J. L. Womersley and Andrew Darbyshire between 1960 and 1965. It has two main floors, both including small shops and stalls, and each accessible from street level. Other stores face on to the surrounding streets, while a gallery found a storey above the main part of the market contains several more shops, and access to an office building surmounting the structure. The gallery is linked by bridges across Exchange Street to further above-ground shopping areas..

The whole Castle markets area has been the subject of redevelopment proposals since the 1980s, with part of the adjacent area being redeveloped with a Hotel, multi-story car park and several new office blocks in a development known as “The Square” by Carillon. The original scheme to replace the markets fell victim to the 1990s recession. A new markets building is due to start construct as part of The Moor (Sheffield) scheme which is part a partnership between the council and private developers . The MSCP for the scheme has been built on Eyre street. Part of the councils current plans is to demolish the existing complex and open up a pedestrian route from the city centre to the Victoria Docks area and the new Riverside Quarter now that the ring road has been diverted..

The Old Town Hall was built in 1807–8 by Charles Watson, and was designed to house not only the Town Trustees but also the Petty and Quarter Sessions. The initial building was a five-bay structure fronting Castle Street, but it was extended in 1833 and again in 1866 by William Flockton (1804-1864) of Sheffield and his partner for the project, Abbott; the most prominent feature was the new central clock tower over a new main entrance that reoriented the building to Waingate. At the same time, the building’s courtrooms were linked by underground passages to the neighbouring Sheffield Police Offices.

Up the road is Fitzalan Square was created in 1881 when Market Street and its buildings were demolished, the early square had a substantial cab stand and clock. However, this was demolished in 1913 to make way for a bronze statue of King Edward VII by Alfred Drury (1857-1944). This was unveiled by the Duke of Norfolk on 27 October 1913, and stands to this day..

The Grand Old Lady of Sheffield’s Head Post Office lays empty going derelict operated in the square for almost ninety years. Built in 1910 as an addition to the 1897 post office building on Flat Street, it closed in 1999, with the main post office moving to new premises within the CO-OP store on Angel Street. The Grade II listed Post Office building was up for sale for a considerable time before finally being sold for development in early 2005..

Following more failed plans and schemes, The freehold of the 73,600 sq ft Fitzalan Square site has was sold 13 Jun 2005 to a London based developer, Saturn Facilities, which put forward a planning application for a redevelopment to breathe new life into this unique and historic site. following part demolition 2008 nothing has happened to The Grade II listed Post Office building.

It took years to get the former Pound Street Bus Station, demolished and replaced, even the replaced one has had it problems, it was redeveloped in the 1990,s, and renamed Sheffield Interchange, on part of the sight stood The Sheaf Valley Swimming Baths contained a mural painted by Rolf Harris. The story goes that Paul Fletcher purchased it when Sheaf Valley closed, and put it up at Fletchers Bakery – which of course has burned down now. Where The former Sheaf Valley Swimming Baths was, now stands part of Sheffield Digital Campus..

The Sheaf Valley Swimming Baths had three pools – a child’s shallow pool, a main swimming pool and of course the diving pool along with the diving boards and the infamous ‘Top Splash’ which was a scarily high diving platform that the bravest used to throw themselves off , demolished when Ponds forge was built for the world student games, the 1991 Summer Universiade, also known as the XVI Summer Universiade, took place in Sheffield. In the host country it was generally referred to as the World Student Games..

At the side of Sheffield Digital Campus, is The Old Queen’s Head is a public house on Pond Hill that occupies the oldest domestic building in the city This timber framed building is thought to date from c.1475, although the earliest known written record of it is in an inventory compiled in 1582 of the estate of George Talbot, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury that included the furnishings of this building, which was then called “The hawle at the Poandes”. As a part of the Earl’s estate, it may have been used as a banqueting hall for parties hunting wildfowl in the nearby ponds. These ponds, which formed in the area where the Porter Brook meets the River Sheaf, are now gone, but are commemorated in the local names Pond Street, Pond Hill (formerly Pond Well Hill) and Ponds Forge.

Sheffield City Council saw the World Student Games as a catalyst for urban renewal after industrial decline. It set up a company, Universiade GB Ltd, to run the games. Lack of government funding and television sponsorship meant the event was in doubt until the Council guaranteed the money itself, in the face of complaints from local ratepayers. New facilities built for the event included the centrepiece Don Valley Stadium and other arenas, while the Lyceum Theatre where Yazoo played following this gig it was renovated along with Tudor Square for the associated cultural events. The opening ceremony attracted publicity when Helen Sharman, Britain’s first astronaut, tripped and dropped the games torch..

She succeeded in lighting the gas-fuelled flame from its embers, Tudor Square is now under refurbishment as part of The Heart of the City is a major re-development site in As its name suggests the Heart of the City is located in the heart of Sheffield City Centre. Mainly developed by Sheffield One, the scheme has created a main public space, the Peace Gardens located next to the Sheffield Town Hall. A major part of the Heart of the City scheme is St. Paul’s Place which includes three major office and retail buildings fronting onto Millennium Square, a main square outside the Sheffield Winter Gardens and Millennium Galleries. Also included in the schemes is a luxury 4-star MacDonald’s hotel and St. Paul’s Tower, a 101 m residential skyscraper set to be Sheffield’s tallest..

The Former Fiesta Night Club is over the road from Tudor Square it opened in Sheffield in the 1970s and it was another venue which attracted big acts – The Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five, Ella Fitzgerald and The Four Tops all played there. And there were many famous home-grown names too – Cilla Black, Bruce Forsyth, Les Dawson, Tommy Cooper and Sheffield’s own Tony Christie – to name but a few. Anyone who knows Sheffield will know the big building on Arundel Gate which is now the Odeon cinema.

Next door was The mysterious New Roxy Disco home to The Hit Man and Her, yes Take That did do a PA there, since then she laid empty for the better part of this millennium but still manages to stand it’s ground. Once a pristine tiled igloo of the 1960s, the Top Rank Suite (as it was initially known) aimed to present a one-stop solution for Sheffield’s night time pleasure seekers. Health and safety deemed the venue unfit for use and effectively condemned the building in 2003. Then it shut down. .

Also home for a while for St. Thomas’ Church, former home for The Nine O’Clock Service (or NOS for short) also using, The former Limit Night Club West Street and latter Ponds Forge Rotunda, NOS was a youth-oriented alternative Christian worship service started, after a 1985 John Wimber Signs and Wonders conference in Sheffield, in 1986 at St. Thomas’ church in Crookes, Sheffield, United Kingdom by a group of Christian musicians and artists. ( now is the O2 Academy.)

It has over the years become an eyesore and block to the access to the bus station, The Sheaf Sq redevelopment has eased some of this but, once again failed thinking along with the plans of East Midlands Trains (EMT) who recently started to implement human barriers at the station, and want to install permanent barriers which will block off access through the station a staggering 94% of people taking part in a Council on-line poll remain opposed to introducing Ticket barriers at Sheffield station. Over 4,000 people have given their views on-line When faced with three possible solutions the vast majority of people rejected the options of spending public money on a second bridge or issuing electronic passes. Instead 94% of people voted in favour of keeping the existing bridge open.

This bridge links Park Hill and is a part of the plans for this now grade 2 listed structure and its future, all to often Sheffield fails to understand that the architecture of its past plays a part in it,s future, look towards The Seven Stone plans and how time again the plans have been revised, meanwhile we have lost the former Trafalgar Works on Wellington Street, The fire station only completed in 1984 now stands waiting demolition at the cost of 1 Million pounds, as the derelict shops under The Grovner House Hotel and surrounding area are bordered up waiting there fate which will be no doubt demolition.

Walk down The Moor and remember the last refurbishment of 96, now empty standing shops await yes you guessed more demolition, and more plans for office space shoping centre and car parks, instead of having the bollocks to look towards it,s rich architecture, need we remind people of George Barnsley and sons, or Warncliff works.

So, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has suddenly become very active on the great picnic blanket that is the British constitution – and, yes, I do use the term advisedly – by rather hilariously asking the British National Party (BNP) to comply with equality laws or face an application for a legal injunction that would force it to.

I phone the EHRC determined to discover whether the BNP has inadvertently – some might say ironically – fallen victim to some piece of European legislation or other, following its recent success in the European parliamentary elections?

“No, it’s all British law as far as I’m aware,” a charming woman called Krista from the press office tells me. So far, so “Indigenously Caucasian” as the BNP’s constitution would have it. I’m not exactly sure who was involved in creating the 1976 Race Relations Act, on which the EHRC is relying, but my colleague Philip Johnston tells me that it was very likely to have been drafted entirely by a bunch of white people in the government and civil service of the time. So, with any luck, no problem there for Mr Griffin and his cohorts.

The question arises, then, where exactly does the EHRC’s problem lie and what kind of teeth would this injunction have? “It’s the BNP’s constitution,” Krista tells me, drawing my attention to section two on page four, which refers to membership and, interestingly, eleven alleged racial groupings from which it would specifically welcome members. I note that there are plenty of Celts in there, remember being told once that the Irish language had more in common with Sanskrit than anything else, then also remember that I received this information in a pub and file it mentally under “to do”.

“You have to be a member of the BNP to be an employee of the party and membership is restricted to these ethnic groups,” Krista explains. “We think that’s illegal.” A vague memory also wafts back at this point that there is no scientific way of distinguishing the DNA of one ethnic group from any other and I wonder how the BNP would ultimately support its “ethnicity” rules in court.

But even if its constitution is changed, I ask Krista, what’s to stop the BNP doing what everybody else does - employing whomsoever they want and then claiming that they were the best person for the job when challenged? And anyway, what kind of a black or Asian person would want to go and work for the BNP? There was a pause. “Yes, that’s a good point,” Krista admits.

“Something else that has been raised is that it’s possible that the BNP would claim that it is exempt from this legislation because it’s an association and section 26 of the act exempts associations. But we’ve already taken legal advice on this and have been told that a political party cannot qualify as an association, since instead of acting on behalf of its members, a political party is supposed to act on behalf of the community at large.”

The spectre of a million claims that the BNP turned anti-fascists down for jobs heaves into view and I’m reminded at this point of what happened to the Daily Mail’s poll about gipsies last week.

Still, it should be a go-er. Telegraph

High Marnham Power Station is a former coal-fired power station currently undergoing demolition. It is located in Nottinghamshire, to the west of the River Trent, just south of the village of Dunham. It was the most southerly of three power stations which lined the River Trent, the others being West Burton and Cottam. The station was opened in 1959 and had a generating capacity on 945 megawatts

The station closed in 2003 after nearly 45 years in operation, with a loss of 119 jobs.The station’s chimneys were demolished on 15 December 2004. The station’s 150 feet (46 m) high boiler house was demolished on 5 October 2006.The station’s five cooling towers still stand.

Onto some Images then:

What a better way to spend a day of from editing images and film, driving around in a Jag Never Mind The Bollocks The Sex Pistols pumping out, and oh erm a man coming at you with a plank of wood shouting get of my land, when I saw him reach for something I thought gun, camera at the ready but all it was a plank of wood, all for a derelict farm house only us only us..

During the Gulf War, over 1,300 US medical staff were sent to the Hall and many were billeted at RAF Scampton. Fortunately only 35 casualties had to be treated. In its later days 13 American personnel remained to keep the hospital serviceable. RAF Nocton Hall was handed back to the Her Majesty’s Government by the USAF on 30 September 1995.

Opened: 1940 Re-deisgnated: 1943 United States Army Seventh General Hospital Re-designated: 1945 RAF Nocton Hall

Closed: Hospital closed 1982 Leased to USAF: 1984 – 1995 Formally closed 23 Jun 1995, handed back by US Forces Sep 1995

We got back there and agree this is stunning onto some images then:

Young people would cast more votes for the far-right group than for the Green Party, poll reveals, there have been a number of attempts to downplay the scale of the British National Party’s success in the Euro elections a few weeks ago. One of the main arguments which has been put forward is that while the BNP won two Euro seats, it’s number of votes actually dropped, proving that people are not turning to the far-right.

They are the age group most likely to vote for the BNP, compared with just three per cent of those 35 or over. ‘These are very worrying findings. Any rise in support for the BNP is worrying especially among young people,’ said Unite Against Fascism. (The SWP front)

There’s a possiblity here of reading the results for the narrative we hope find, rather than facing the true extent of the challenge for The Left and the shape of likely developments to come. It’s correct we need to avoid hysteria, but at the same time we need good analysis to form effective strategies. Despite the risk of engaging in amateur psephology, and the danger of getting some of our calculations wrong, we want to try to break down some of the figures to find out if BNP support is static or if the party is still on the march.

‘The underlying factors fuelling the BNP’s growth – the rise in joblessness and the climate of racism against immigrants – are not going away in a hurry.’

Overall, more than one in five under-35s plan to vote for a minor party at the next election, our survey reveals. The findings follow government figures released earlier this month showing nearly a third of those who became unemployed in the past three months were young people.

Nearly 900,000 under-25s were unemployed in the three months to April, up 71,000 since the last quarter. One in five young people in Britain is now unemployed or inactive. Anger about the issue, and over the scandal of MPs’ expenses, led many to cast a protest vote in the European elections earlier this month. And, according to the survey, the party could continue its success at the polls, particularly with young people.

‘In recent years the BNP has struggled to appeal to young people, who tend to be less likely to hold racist views and more at ease in a multicultural society than the general population,’ a Unite Against Fascism spokesman added. ‘But this poll shows there is no room for complacency when it comes to tackling the BNP.’

There was also wide regional variation, with seven per cent of voters in Wales planning to support That Racist Griffin’s party in the polling booth, the poll of nearly 2,000 people showed.

However, just one per cent of those in the east of England would vote BNP, the survey revealed. And only one per cent of urbanites said they would vote BNP, in a separate survey of 1,800 people.

The Labour party is dying, and fascism is on the rise. Where does the working class go from here?

‘May you live in interesting times’ is an old Chinese saying. You might be forgiven for assuming it is a blessing but in actual fact it is intended as a curse. Of course, how you might regard the inherent implications of some major political or social upheaval most probably depends on what end of the political or social spectrum you inhabit.

In any event, for good or ill, ‘interesting times’ we are certainly in. In 1994, at the beginning of the Blair era, Labour MP Roy Hattersley suggested that ‘the working class would continue to vote for Labour whatever the party does’. A number of years after New Labour had taken power in 1997, when the cracks between the governing party and the working class electorate were already beginning to emerge, mostly in the form of a collapsing turnout at elections, it was all airily waved away by current Justice Minister Jack Straw. He described the gathering disengagement as ‘the politics of contentment.’

The quotes are a useful reminder that New Labour’s problems did not begin with the ascension to power of Gordon Brown, or the credit crunch, or MP’s expenses. The real damage was done far earlier, goes far deeper and may indeed be irreversible. In truth the working class (especially the poorer sections of the working class) no longer have any form of political representation. All current political parties serve the same narrow interests; they exist purely to satisfy the needs of more privileged members of society. Support for poor communities now comes almost entirely from the voluntary sector – though even this is threatened thanks to the global recession.

Despite these facts Labour – a political party that once claimed to represent the working class and the poor – has abandoned its ambitions to halve child poverty by 2010. As we mentioned before this would have cost in the region of 3-5 billion, less than a 100th of the amount of public money given to bail out UK banks. Financial equality leads to a happier, more stable society, but when it came to the crunch Labour were all too happy to abandon the poor working class.

But no amount of aid or charity work will bring about the changes that are urgently needed in our society if we are to truly combat poverty. Only an organised working class political movement could ever hope to achieve this. As the IWCA have recently pointed out in their excellent ‘Labour got what it deserved – and so did the BNP’ article…

“a progressive working class party [sic]t could very well mop up across entire boroughs where previously Labour and then the BNP had once ruled the roost. Why such a possibility exists is because as Searchlight admits ‘in some places such as Barking and Dagenham, one of the fundamental problems is the absence of any mainstream alternative to Labour, so the BNP is the sole beneficiary of the anti-Labour protest vote.’ As the big three continue to shed activists (according to one report the Tories have shed 40,000 members since Cameron took over) and atrophy in terms of popular support, it is a trend that can only become more widespread.

But how to get from the present to there is the tricky bit. One factor is certain. A long-term strategy is now required. It is unlikely there will be any short cuts. So it is the long game or nothing. A daunting prospect. But on the plus side the opportunities unfolding before our eyes do have an undeniable once-in-a-century feel about them.”

Anyone who is angered by poverty and inequality should read the full article and step up to the plate; it’s time to get organised. Get in touch with the IWCA and with local activists in your area militant working class activists of all persuasions must come together if we are to seize this ‘once-in-a-century’ opportunity.