11th hour bid fails to save Sheffield’s Don Valley Stadium

A LAST-DITCH call to stop the demolition of Sheffield’s Don Valley Stadium failed today after leading councillors rubber-stamped a decision which will see it bulldozed.
The Don Valley StadiumThe Don Valley Stadium
The Don Valley Stadium

The stadium, which is where Sheffield’s Olympic champion heptathlere Jessica Ennis trains, was earmarked for closure earlier this year in response to local government funding cuts.

Sheffield Council said it could no longer afford to subsidise the venue, which was built in 1990 for the ill-fated World Student Games, after the authority was told to save £50m this year.

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Yesterday’s meeting of the authority’s cabinet agreed the stadium will close in September, and be demolished soon after that.

Former city MP Richard Caborn has been called in to draw up a new plan for the site, but unveiling his ideas recently he admitted his calculations had been made on the “back of a fag packet”.

Sheffield Council’s opposition Liberal Democrat group had argued the venue should stay open, at least in the interim, until a new use for the site was confirmed.

Coun Joe Otten, the Lib Dems spokesman for sport and culture, said ahead of yesterday’s meeting: “The day Labour councillors voted to close doors on the Don Valley Stadium was a sad day for Sheffield.

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“At the same time as declaring the site surplus to requirements, Labour bosses have tried to appease campaigners by announcing ideas for the site.

“But while those plans remain just pipe-dreams, Don Valley stadium should remain open. The council should be fighting to protect Sheffield’s reputation as a city of sport.”