Waterways in popular Sheffield parks need repair works totalling £148,000

Sheffield City Council is planning the work at Crookes Valley Park, Endcliffe Park and Hinde Wheel Dam in the Rivelin Valley. The budget for the works, totalling £148,200, will be proposed at a meeting of the council’s finance committee on Wednesday (June 19).

At Crookes Valley Park in Crookesmoor, £101,500 has been earmarked to deal with standing water and expanding tension cracks spotted around the south and west of the lake basin last December. The park lake is an old reservoir.

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A report to the committee says: “Further degradation was noted in April 2024 as a result of the inclement weather and is reducing access to a well-used and much-loved community asset in the city centre.”

The committee is also asked to approve £21,000 to look at issues with the Porter Brook in Endcliffe Park. A section of the river wall near the weir may have been damaged by a tree stump behind it.

The Environment Agency recently inspected the Porter Brook in the park and has also identified two other areas that need attention.

Solution

An investigation will look at “the underlying issues causing the problems in these areas, identify any specific risks, and outline the next steps towards finding a complete solution”, the report says.

Another £25,700 is proposed for works at Hinde Wheel Dam, next to the Rivelin Valley Trail used by walkers, where sinkholes have appeared in the outer wall of the dam.

The committee report says: “A report commissioned notes that the wall may be subject to piping, resulting in the collapse of some of the footpath. The longer-term solution looks at repairing and remediating the condition of this aspect of the scheme.

“Further to this, Hinde Wheel suffered from overtopping because of Storm Babet in October 2023. This damage is mostly located at the entrance to, and the outlet of the reservoir, resulting in the immediate erosion and scour of the footpath and protective area around the exterior wall.

“Consultants have noted some temporary measures that are being explored through the ongoing contracts for flood alleviation schemes across the city.”