Now Then 2021 policy survey: in full
We asked the parties putting up candidates across Sheffield for their policy position on a number of ideas that are important to Now Then, ahead of the local election on 6 May. These are the responses we received, across 19 areas.

Community Wealth Building
Labour:
We believe that now more than ever we need to continue pushing
council polices which have a social value – including doing
everything we can to tackle the climate emergency and make Sheffield
carbon neutral. We are determined to put Community Wealth Building
polices front and centre of council decisions. This is reflected in
our Ethical Procurement Strategy.
Green:
We believe in boosting the local economy, not outsourcing the city’s
wealth to multinationals. If we pay Sheffield people to do work, they
spend it in local shops, which are more likely to use local services
and suppliers themselves. That
means money staying in the Sheffield economy for longer.
Women's
Equality Party (WEP):
In theory we support this idea but we would need to see the outcome
of a thorough Equalities Impact Assessment to ensure that community
wealth was distributed fairly and women benefited.
Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC): TUSC supports many of the ideas behind CWB such as local procurement, but recognises that the policies of big institutions and major employers in Sheffield such as the universities, NHS trusts and indeed the council itself, are increasingly driven by Tory government policy, commercialisation, privatisation and affected by austerity cuts. Therefore CWB cannot be a substitute for councils resisting the Tory government slashing of local authority funding, setting needs budgets, and mobilising local trade union and community support for such a strategy.
City-wide landlord licensing
Labour:
We are committed to tough action against rouge landlords – wherever
they are in the city. We will look at all housing areas in the city
and develop the information base within those areas to determine the
best course of action. In principle, where the evidence base exists,
we would support a licensing scheme.
Green:
We support the principle of landlord licensing because renting is a
lifelong housing situation for an increasing number of people, as it
is in many European countries. Recognising it is a major undertaking
to perform a robust licensing system that is not just an
administrative checklist, we would need to roll this out across the
city in stages, focusing on the areas of worst housing first. Our
budget proposals have called for more staff to help tenants and take
enforcement
action on substandard rented housing in the private sector.
WEP: There has been a lot of positive feedback from tenants in areas where this has been introduced and good landlords have benefited from the model. We support a city-wide scheme as this drives up standards across the whole city and covers all landlords. Women feel safer and more secure in well-managed homes.
TUSC: TUSC supports city-wide landlord licensing, and also maximum rent caps, set at a level that is really affordable relative to the low average wage in Sheffield. TUSC has endorsed ACORN’s five demands for these council elections.
Governance referendum
Labour:
Regardless of the whichever system is implemented, we want to see devolution of decision-making to a more local level and this is why we will enact Local Area Committees.
Green:
We have supported a change from the ‘Strong Leader’ model of
local government, which has served Sheffield so badly, to a modern
committee system where all councillors take part in decision-making.
Women's Equality Party: We support the proposed new Committee Model as it gives more councillors a direct say in how the city is run. A Women’s Equality Party councillor would have more influence under this model, and would be able to ensure that a gendered perspective forms part of the decision-making process.
TUSC: TUSC supports the referendum to change the council governance in favour of a Committee System. This would be slightly more democratic, but unless we elect councillors who are prepared to stand up to senior council officers and in the case of Labour prepared to stand up to their own party leaders, and vote against more cuts in jobs and services, changing the governance model won’t make that much difference to Sheffielders lives.

Ball Street Bridge, Kelham Island.
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
Labour:
We want to make all our neighbourhoods safer, and more breathable
places to live. To this aim we are committed to implementing low
traffic neighbourhoods. We already have one in place in Kelham Island
as part of our Emergency Active Travel Fund, which builds on our
Connecting Sheffield proposal for Kelham Island and Neepsend, and
will look to roll further areas out across the city.
Green:
We have campaigned for low-traffic neighbourhoods after talking to
residents for many years, especially in places like Kelham Island, so
we are pleased to see these being brought in.
WEP: In theory these can make a positive contribution to a neighbourhood, as less traffic makes streets safer for children and has a positive impact on health, by reducing emissions and encouraging walking and cycling for shorter journeys. However, they can only succeed when the people living in the neighbourhood have been fully consulted and this needs to be coupled with a full safety audit to make sure women and girls feel safe on the streets.
TUSC: TUSC is generally in favour of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods but any such schemes must only be implemented with the agreement of local communities.
Workplace Parking Levy
Labour:
Given some of the emerging pressures on the tram network, the need
for considerable investment, and the need to support a shift to more
sustainable modes of travel, we are looking at many different actions
and a WPL is part of these discussions. However we cannot have a WPL
until we a fit-for-purpose public transport alternative.
Green:
We have been calling for the council to start work on developing a
Workplace Parking Levy for several years. We have included funding in
our budget proposals and Green councillors organised a site visit to
Nottingham to see where it has been successful.
WEP: We currently don’t have a policy on WPL. Although a scheme such as this can bring some benefit, any levy that is placed on people, when we have a situation where women earn 20% less than men do, will always have a more negative impact on women. However, in other areas it has proved to be an effective method of reducing traffic, improving air quality and encouraging people to use public transport, and could be coupled with increasing parking spaces for parents and people with disabilities, as well as increasingly replacing non-reserved parking spaces with bicycle parking.
TUSC: The Nottingham WPL scheme seems to be successful but TUSC would have to look into it more. In general, TUSC would oppose trying to change behaviour by penalising ordinary working class commuters, certainly in advance of a significant improvement in public transport services. The WPL appears to be a levy on employers providing free parking, TUSC would oppose any such charges being passed on to staff users. The scandal of staff hospital parking charges highlights the issue.
Race Equality Commission, and reducing systemic inequality in Sheffield
Labour:
We believe that Sheffield is an inclusive and welcoming city but
following the recent Public Health England Health Report into the
impact of Covid-19 on BAME communities and other reports on racial
disparities and racism we also understand BAME communities in
Sheffield experience pronounced inequality and are under significant
pressure. To investigate this further, we set-up a commission to
examine the causes of this and find solutions. A report for
publication will be completed soon. Interim recommendations will be
made throughout the year. This will enable the Commission to deliver
immediate impact and the city to take action on the critical issues
it identifies.
Green:
We believe it is wrong that people have different life chances in
Sheffield and are disadvantaged because of their race. As long as
this continues it needs to be addressed. Greens have been part of
Sheffield’s Race Equality Commission.
WEP:
We welcome the Race Equality Commission in Sheffield and look forward
to its report on racial disparity. We expect the Council to address
how issues identified affect men and women differently and provide
solutions.
TUSC: TUSC supports any such commission or initiative that can not only highlight but lead to measures than can reduce racism and discrimination within institutions and communities in Sheffield. However, we recognise that racism is systemic, and that system is capitalism which was born out of racism and relies on divide and rule policies. TUSC fights for policies that benefit and unite all working class people in the struggle to overthrow capitalism, racism and all prejudices and discrimination.
Proportional Representation at local elections
Labour:
Councils don’t have the authority to set the electoral voting
system. Labour councillors do not have a stated position on it, as it
is not something they can alter.
Green:
The Green Party strongly supports proportional
representation
at all levels of government.
WEP: WE are in favour of Proportional Representation in local elections to allow a far broader range of opinions to be voiced.
TUSC: TUSC support the introduction of PR at local and national elections as a means to break the two establishment parties system, give people more real choice at the ballot box, and would allow TUSC to gain public representation to provide a platform for anti-austerity and socialist policies.
Bringing council services in-house and including social value in procurement processes
Labour:
In recent years we have brought back ‘in-house’: housing repairs,
Youth Services, IT and Digital services, cleaning services, Human
Resources and payroll services, set up an in-house out-of-hours
customer services telephone line. We believe in public services
delivered by public servants.
Green:
Sheffield Greens have long opposed privatisation of public services:
notably, Greens were the only political group to oppose the massive
contract given to Amey in 2012, when it was supported
by both Labour and Lib Dems.
WEP: We generally support the insourcing of council services as we believe this makes them far more responsive to the needs of the people of Sheffield. We asked the Council in 2018 to introduce questions on social value into the procurement process as not everything can be reduced to a monetary value.
TUSC: TUSC has always opposed all privatisation, and outsourcing of council and all public services. Therefore we do demand the bringing back in house of all outsourced services. TUSC believes that all major industries and services should be publicly owned under democratic workers control and management as part of a socialist planned economy.
'Affordable' housing and council housing
Labour:
We are committed to everyone having an affordable place to call home.
With safe streets, connected communities – this is our vision for
Sheffield. We are committed to ensuring the best possible council
housing:, and have made the following manifesto commitments. 3,100
new council houses will be built by 2028, upgrades to council homes,
£2 million extra into housing repairs.
Green:
We agree with the need for more housing but it must be good housing.
Our “Green
View” planning vision
calls for housing that is fit to live – and work – in. New
housing should be high quality with good insulation so they are far
cheaper to run. We have also campaigned on developers trying to get
out of “affordable housing” contributions.
WEP: Women, especially black women, minoritised women and women with disabilities or chronic illness, are amongst the lowest paid and on insecure incomes. We need much more affordable and council housing across the city and especially in high value areas such as Ecclesall where women and families can easily find themselves priced out of properties. It is vital that they are able to live in areas where they have support networks to enable childcare, care for the elderly and for those with disabilities. We also support the need for older persons housing and will identify SCC-owned land to develop community housing that is affordable to buy or rent in perpetuity for older people, especially women.
TUSC: TUSC calls for a mass council house building programme in Sheffield and nationally. The legal restrictions to councils building houses has been removed. Sheffield Council can borrow against its Housing Revenue account (council properties and rents) to fund new build. The Labour council is promising 3,100 new houses over the next 10 years but there are 40,000 on the council house waiting list, one third classed as urgent. At this rate it will take 50 years to house the existing urgent cases. A mass council house programme is needed which will create jobs and apprenticeships.

Bus regulation in South Yorkshire
Labour:
The Council does not have direct control over bus regulation in the
city, but we have consistently called on Sheffield City Region to
provide more local powers, including franchising powers. We believe
Greater Manchester’s recent commitment to franchising is a major
shot in the arm for reform, and that the city needs a structure that
builds the service we need.
Green:
Greens have encouraged
and supported better control over buses
for
over a decade, as the negative impacts of privatisation on fares and
services become clear. Many people rely on buses to get to and from
their jobs and local authorities need to be in control of services
and routes. Good, affordable bus services can drive the increased
passenger numbers that reduce cars on the road, traffic jams and
dangerous air pollution. We called for “quality contracts” (the
then term for council control) rather than Labour’s preference of
voluntary agreements with the bus companies.
WEP: Any changes to the transport system must primarily consider the needs of the user. WE will commission an audit of women’s travel patterns and employment opportunities in the area to make recommendations on how changes to routes would increase opportunities for women. In addition, bus companies must be encouraged to increase the space for wheelchairs and buggies, so that wheelchair users and parents don’t have to compete for space.
TUSC: TUSC has campaigned over many years for regulation of South Yorkshire buses as a step towards a return to public ownership of the bus industry, and along with permanent re-nationalisation of the railways, so as to plan a truly integrated public transport system.
Reducing the ‘digital divide’ for Sheffield households without internet access
Labour:
Digital Exclusion should not be acceptable. If re-elected, we will
update the council’s Digital Exclusion strategy to make it as
robust as possible. To combat digital exclusion during the Pandemic
we provide thousands of laptops to support children who were having
to home school during lockdown. Government have failed to put the
right support in place - so we acted. Working in partnership with the
Laptops for Kids campaign 6,000 laptops were provided to ensure every
child in Sheffield can access learning - and connectivity will be
funded for those without access at home. The investment into this
project will be around £1.5 million.
Green:
We recognise that digital communication can widen the divide between
the affluent and the poor. In particular, we campaigned for more
action to help schoolchildren, not
just with laptops but also internet
connections
during the lockdown.
WEP:
The need for much better internet access across the whole city has
been thrown into stark relief by COVID. WE would work with
marginalised communities, the poorest and most vulnerable, who are so
often women, to overcome the inequality that the digital divide
creates.
TUSC: TUSC supports Jeremy Corbyn’s 2019 manifesto pledge for free broadband delivery for all. Covid lockdown has shown what a correct policy that was.
A Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in Sheffield
Labour:
The pandemic delayed the implementation of the CAZ. We are fully committed to clean air in Sheffield and are finalising discussions around current data and support package funding with governments, following a post-Covid review. The aim being to ensure we actually achieve meaningful real term reductions (given the proven risk to health) in the shortest possible time, rather than people paying to pollute, which has to be the ultimate aim.
Green:
Air pollution contributes to 500 premature deaths a year in Sheffield
and we have campaigned on air pollution for many years. Petrol and
Diesel engines are major contributors to harmful air pollution so we
support a clean air zone around the city centre which is the most
heavily polluted part of Sheffield. We said the public consultation
was a missed
opportunity for meaningful change
as it did not even ask about charging private cars.
WEP: Cleaner air has major impacts on health, especially of children. While we support the principle we would need to see the detail of the policy.
TUSC: Obviously TUSC supports clean air but TUSC does not think a Clean Air Zone based on financially penalising vehicle drivers before there is a massive improvement in public transport in Sheffield is the best way of achieving that. It is likely to result in increased charges to ordinary people who will blame the CAZ policy, making it harder to persuade people to voluntarily change their travel and commuting habits.
Reaching Sheffield's 2030 net-zero carbon deadline
Labour: Labour councillors declared a Climate Emergency and committed
Sheffield to reducing it carbon neutral target from 2050 to a 2030.
To this aim we have made the following spending commitments:
Anti-Fracking - Labour councillors made Sheffield the first local
authority in the country to ban fracking applications on council
owned land. Renewable Energy - The Council now purchases electricity
generated from 100% renewable sources - this is an increase of 81%
Established Energy Surgeries and installed Smart Energy Meters for
Council tenants – creating up to 40% saving for tenants as well as
a substantial reduction in wasted energy Flood Protection - Invested
over £22 million to keep the city safe from flooding
Green:
The Green councillors called
for the city to be zero-carbon by 2030,
backed up with a call for officers to report back within six months
from February 2019 on the actions the Council needs to take. Labour
agreed to our call but has taken almost no action.
WEP: Responding to the climate emergency underpins all WEP policies. We would audit all proposals to ensure there is a positive impact on women and those on low incomes.
TUSC: TUSC supports that deadline but believes it can only be achieved by a radical transformation of how the city is run. Here are the demands that TUSC petitioned Sheffield Council to implement to help reach that goal:
- Use existing council and mayoral powers to regulate bus services and campaign for a Labour government to bring the public transport industry into public ownership.
- Abandon the £4.6 million ring road widening scheme and invest in public transport instead.
- Axe Amey, not trees – scrap the Streets Ahead Private Finance Initiative deal.
- Bring recycling and waste management services back in-house.
- All council buildings to transition to renewable energy, and in consultation with staff through their trade unions monitor and bring down agreed energy and water usage.
HS2
Labour: We support a station in Sheffield for HS2 and believe this must be connected to the wider Northern Powerhouse Rail (HS3) connections. To tackle air pollution the Midland Mainline must be electrified and we are challenging government to do so, after they scandalously U-turned on this previous commitment.
Green:
We think the huge amount of money required to provide a partial HS2
service for Sheffield would be better
spent on upgrading and electrifying
existing local routes, which are currently dismal, plus reopening
existing railway lines to Stocksbridge and stations at Heeley,
Millhouses and Totley Brook.
WEP:
We have no current policy on this.
TUSC: TUSC opposes the
HS2 project as environmentally damaging and financially unviable.
TUSC believes that the railways should be brought back into public
ownership and run democratically by railworkers and the travelling
public. Public investment is needed to expand and upgrade travelling
stock and services. Not a penny more should go to the private
operating companies!
Independent street tree inquiry
Labour:
We have apologies for the previous failings and have held our hands
up – we repeat, we got it wrong and apologise. There has already
been an investigations by the ombudsman. The council accepted the
report and identified 10 specific lessons learned and 14 actions. We
have also committed to the archive project. We are pleased that there
has been no protest in recent years and that there is a city-wide
agreed strategy for maintaining the city’s street trees.
Green:
We continue to call for an independent inquiry into the council and
policies handling of the street trees fiasco, after Cllr Alison Teal
and many other campaigners were arrested and threatened with
imprisonment by the council itself, for standing up against the
tree-felling programme. We repeatedly called
out untruths
and the Local Government Ombudsman found there had been a lack of
transparency,
openness and honesty.
WEP:
We support the independent street tree inquiry as we need to
understand how the council’s approach led to the waste of £400,000
of taxpayers money taking people to court as well as covering other
costs. We would have worked collaboratively with residents and local
groups about the best approach to their trees. The Labour council’s
approach illustrates why power needs to be devolved to a wider number
of councillors across the political spectrum.
TUSC: TUSC
supports such an inquiry. We believe that it should examine the
collusion between the council, Amey and South Yorkshire Police in the
harassment, arrest and prosecution of tree campaigners (who were
proved right that the tree felling programme was unnecessary),
especially the use by a ‘Labour’ council of Tory anti-trade union
laws! And should look into how the Amey PFI contract was drawn up by
the Lib Dems then signed and defended by Labour, and how it can be
scrapped and highways and street lighting brought back in-house.

Hawksley Avenue, Hillsborough.
Piloting Universal Basic Income (UBI) in Sheffield
Labour:
We committed the Council in June 2019 to supporting a pilot of UBI in
Sheffield. The national Labour followed this up with a commitment
that a Labour government would look to pilot UBI in selected areas,
and Sheffield would be one of the cities. The cost of any future
Sheffield pilot would be met entirely by an external funder, and not
by Sheffield City Council.
Green:
We strongly
support a UBI
pilot
in Sheffield. UBI helps to reduce crime, while improving health
outcomes and wellbeing and has been a long-term Green policy
commitment.
WEP: WE support a UBI pilot or a Minimum Income Guarantee in Sheffield. The Covid crisis has only served to underline the inequalities already prevalent in our society, and even with government support in the crisis reaching many, many more people have been unable to make ends meet. Having a UBI or Minimum Income Guarantee in place would be a safety net for everyone. We would particularly want to capture its impact on women, Black women and women of colour.
TUSC: TUSC has always advocated a much higher minimum living wage, currently arguing for £12 an hour as a step towards £15 an hour, and that there should be a minimum income linked to that, that people really can afford to live on. Whether that’s called UBI, minimum income guaranteed, whatever, but the key issue is whether it really will be at a level that people can comfortably live on.
Deliberative or participatory democracy in Sheffield
Labour:
We have committed to a Citizens’ Assembly to discuss how the city
can best tackle the climate emergency and reach carbon net zero. This
has been delayed due to the pandemic. Sheffield City Council
undertakes wide public consultation, and we will always ensure that
this is done properly and with the required breadth.
Green:
We believe in making decisions at the most local level possible. We
also believe in genuine consultation because the people of Sheffield
have lots of good ideas that deserve to be taken into account.
WEP:
There is merit to both of these decision-making processes and we will
convene citizen’s assemblies to scrutinise major spending and
policy decisions, including the Council’s budget. Had citizen’s
assemblies been in place during the pandemic, then there would have
been a wider discussion around social care, childcare, and other
vital services where the responsibility for plugging the gaps fell
overwhelmingly to women and rates of domestic abuse soared. This
election is an opportunity to make sure our councillors listen to
women’s voices and understand the importance of investing in care
and communities for our recovery.
TUSC:
Labour will say that they are proposing such with their proposed
community forums with mini budgets, but it is nothing of the kind.
Real participatory democracy would bring together elected and
recallable representatives from workplaces, education institutions,
local communities and neighbourhoods, trade unions and tenant
associations, to decide on what’s needed in the city and how to
achieve it. If that isn’t linked to a fight for more funding and
resources, then any such participatory democracy would be a sham,
arguing over limited or declining resources.
Real Living Wage for all council employees and everyone working on council contracts
Labour:
All Council employees are paid the Real Living Wage. We want all
council contactors to also be paid the ELW, and our ethical
procurement strategy will help us deliver this.
Green:
Green councillors were the first
to propose a living wage
for all council staff, way back in 2008. We were pleased it has been
adopted subsequently but still want it to be extended to all council
contractors.
WEP:
In 2018 WE analysed the gender pay gap in Sheffield. Many women were
only on the minimum wage which is not sufficient to live on. WE
called on the council to introduce a real living wage and we have
also challenged them on their gender pay gap and the gender pay gap
of their contractors. In relation to council employees, WE will make
all Council workers’ individual remunerations visible to all within
the organisation, including temporary, part-time, contracted and
consultant workers.
TUSC: TUSC has always advocated a much higher minimum living wage, currently arguing for £12 an hour as a step towards £15 an hour. And argued within the trade unions that they must coordinate ballots and industrial action to fight for that, starting with a 10% pay claim for all council workers to smash the Tory government’s public sector pay freeze.
Heritage, planning and city centre vision
Labour:
Our business density is historically low compared to other major cities and while new start-ups in Sheffield tend to be successful, there aren’t enough of them. If there is to be a legacy from this pandemic it should be more start-ups and scale ups in this new environment, taking every opportunity to build further resilience into our economy. On heritage, we're supporting this
approach.
Green:
We strongly support keeping irreplaceable heritage, for its own sake
and also because demolishing and rebuilding is incredibly costly in
carbon and energy usage. The Devonshire
Street shops
and the Old
Coroner’s Court
are perfect examples of where the Labour Administration failed to
preserve a unique piece of the city’s heritage. We have published
our “Green
View”
setting out a vision for how the city centre should develop. We
support the Joined Up Heritage Sheffield plan for a heritage strategy
for the city.
WEP:
We support the development of policies around these topics. It is
important that Sheffield values its heritage and has a planning
regime which takes into account the needs of all residents, and
ensures affordable housing, accessibility to all areas and buildings
for people with disabilities and where everyone, especially women and
girls, feel safe and free from sexual harassment.
TUSC: TUSC supports preservation of the city’s heritage, especially working class history and struggles. And of course a regeneration of the city centre, but again that will only be possible if the council reverses its policy of chasing the private sector and dependence on business rates, the folly of which has been revealed by the Chinese investment that wasn’t and the announcement of the John Lewis store closure. As with most of the above issues, will the council continue to be a transmission belt for Tory central government policies or will it really represent the interests of local people by leading the resistance to austerity, privatisation and cuts?