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Home-making

The new housing in the northeast of Sheffield was largely built to replace slum housing in the city centre and industrialised areas like Attercliffe. The programme of building that had begun in Longley in 1926, continued until the 1950s. In the end, the combined estates formed the second-largest concentration of council housing in Europe. Gas and electricity was installed in most houses along with hot and cold running water. A bathroom and separate toilet in the back porch led many to regard their new homes as little palaces. The new estates, crucially, were built above the smoke line, free of the falling daily soot. The period of unemployment from the early 1980s coincided with a marked decline in public investment in the estates in the north of Sheffield. As a result the area has suffered decades of inadequate maintenance. The latest regeneration programme aims to address residents' concerns.

Click on the images to enlarge.

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homes leaflet - select to see a larger image homes leaflet - select to see a larger image

The Conservative government in the 1980s worked towards selling off council properties.

Image reproduced by kind permission of Monteney Community Workshops.

'Right to Buy' schemes gave council tenants massive discounts to buy the homes that they were renting. Many tenants took advantage of this. Many more could not afford to do so.

The Help Oppose Mass Estate Sales (HOMES) campaign aimed to keep local people informed of the dangers of turning to moneylenders. This leaflet was distributed to 10,000 homes in 1989.

t'Paper newsletter - select to see a larger image

Image reproduced by kind permission of Monteney Community Workshops.

The HOMES campaign also led the protest against Poll Tax in the area. The local newsletter, 'T'Paper', advertised local Poll Tax meetings.

Poll Tax meeting leaflet - select to see a larger image

Image reproduced by kind permission of Monteney Community Workshops.

Some modernisation was carried out on properties in the north of Sheffield, as seen in Galsworthy in the 1980s. Many other houses, roads, verges and pavements were however neglected. Dissatisfied tenants joined forces and established Tenants Associations in order to fight for their rights.

Memory Leaves which might be of interest:

small leaf  Harvest time
small leaf  Allen Street in 1916
small leaf  When I lived in the hut
small leaf  An inside toilet?

 
 
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