Council: Stadium closure 'one of bigger options on table'
Recently, Sheffield City Council said of proposals to close Don Valley Stadium:
These are extraordinarily difficult times and we have said that we will have to look at tough budget options because of the devastating Government cuts to public spending and local government.
We have said all along that we have to consider all options and Don Valley Stadium is one of the bigger options on the table.
I want to make it clear that no decisions have been made and when we are in a position to confirm our spending decisions we will do so.
– Cllr Bryan Lodge, Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources
A decision on the future of the stadium will be made later today.
Sheffield City Council is due to make a decision over the closure of Don Valley stadium today.
The council has said that it faces £50m in cuts as a result of government budget reductions and cannot afford to subsidise the stadium which cost £700,000 per year to run.
Councillors are considering a plan to demolish Don Valley and reopen the nearby Woodbourn athletics stadium.
Olympic champion Jessica Ennis was discovered at Don Valley stadium. Credit: Mike Egerton/EMPICS Sport
Olympic gold medallist Jessica Ennis has appealed for the stadium to remain open, saying its closure "would be a huge shame".
It's been revealed the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police has been forced to apologise for an internal email discussing the way the force should deal with the most recent Hillsborough inquiry.
South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright said he was disappointed in the language used in the email which was sent in September last year - before the Hillsborough panel's report was published.
In it, David Crompton is quoted as saying parts of the Hillsborough campaigners' version of events had 'become the truth, even though it isn't'. Mr Crompton said tonight he was sorry if his words caused any offence.
A man has been arrested after a three-year-old girl died in Sheffield.
An ambulance was called to a house in the Shiregreen area of the city on Friday evening and took the child to Sheffield Children's Hospital where she died at 12:20 am yesterday morning.
A 30-year-old man from the area has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Detectives release new CCTV footage in search for killer of Sheffield church organist
Detectives investigating the murder of Sheffield church organist Alan Greaves on Christmas Eve have released CCTV footage of two men they want to question about the killing. The new images were released at a press conference at South Yorkshire Police's training centre in Wath-upon-Dearne.
'Councils must keep doing their bit' says government department
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government has commented on the news that the council leaders of Newcastle, Liverpool and Sheffield have warned of increasing social unrest and community tensions in the north.
The spokesman said:
Councils must keep doing their bit to tackle the inherited budget deficit because they account for a quarter of all public spending and still get through over £114 billion of taxpayers money each year.
The local government settlement is a fair deal arming councils with an average spending power of £2,240 per household. It is fair to the north and south, and fair for rural and urban areas.
Councils that fail to do these things are letting down their hard working residents.
– Spokesman for Department for Communities and Local Government
Mr Pickles claimed the settlement represented a "bargain" for local authorities, adding that the Government would offer support for the third year so that council taxes could be frozen.
The Sunday Telegraph is reporting that more than 120 rural councils were weighing up a judicial review of the spending settlement for local authorities because it was "grossly unfair" and would hit services in remote areas.
Roger Begy, leader of Conservative-controlled Rutland Council and chairman of a new campaign called "Sparse", told the paper:
Rural authorities for the last 10 to 12 years have been seriously under funded in relation to urban areas.For the last 18 months we have been working with the Government reviewing the (spending) formula that takes into account deprivation. Now that has been ignored completely and all the promises ministers made have disappeared. We are going to have to do something.This is totally unfair and is going to crucify a lot of rural areas. People are going to be isolated.
