Aldi plan to remove flagship cycle lane in north-west Sheffield to build new supermarket

Developers of a new Aldi supermarket on a site in Hillsborough have submitted plans that involve stripping out one of Sheffield’s flagship cycle routes linking the north-west of the city with the city centre.

Campaign group CycleSheffield have strongly objected to the proposals, saying they “significantly degrade the existing active travel provision on Penistone Road,” and called on the council to work with the developer to amend the plans.

The site, on a currently empty triangle of land on the corner of Penistone Rd and Herries Rd near Hillsborough Stadium, contains one of Sheffield’s few fully separated cycle routes on a major arterial road into the city.

The plans, submitted by Aldi Stores Limited, remove hundreds of metres of existing cycle lane to build a vehicle slip road and a new junction to provide access to the supermarket without any dedicated crossing for people walking or cycling. The plans also include three drive-through food outlets, another shop and an EV charging hub, as well as hundreds of parking spaces.

"There have been numerous applications for this site over the years but this one is by far the most regressive in terms of its impact on walking and cycling," Dexter Johnstone of CycleSheffield told Now Then.

"The Penistone Road cyclepath, whilst in need of serious upgrading, is one of the most well-used radial cycle routes into and out of north-west Sheffield: 114,302 cycle trips were made along it in 2022. It is one of the very few cycle routes in Sheffield on a major arterial road which is separated from motor traffic."

The proposals to significantly downgrade part of a major active travel route in Sheffield contradict the council’s stated aim to "transform travel in Sheffield by creating high-quality, convenient and safer routes into and around the city for cycling, walking and public transport."

Instead, cyclists travelling between the city centre and areas including Wadsley Bridge and Parson Cross would be forced to share a narrow pavement with pedestrians.

A previous application for the same site, submitted in 2019 but never built, included mandatory conditions for the previous developer to significantly upgrade the crossing at Herries Road South to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists – but the current application includes no upgrade of this crossing.

"It is absolutely vital that the council does not allow the developer to undermine one of the few real cycle routes we have in Sheffield, but instead applies and enforces conditions to the development which means that cycling and walking provision is significantly improved, enabling more people to travel actively in our city," said Johnstone. "We cannot afford another planning fiasco like we had with the Ikea cycle route again."

The planning application currently has 107 public comments, all of which are objections. Aldi did not respond to our requests for comment. A spokesperson for Sheffield City Council said they were unable to comment on a live planning application.