Places features

Margetson Crescent shops, December 2007

June 2008

Sheffield is changing. You've probably noticed the city's skyline bristling with cranes.

But there's also regeneration going on outside the city centre, in the neighbourhoods and communities where people live.

Some areas have long been in decline - they tend to have high unemployment rates, high crime rates, run-down housing and a bad reputation. They're now being targeted for improvements.

Margetson Crescent shops, post-war

Parson Cross is one of the places undergoing sweeping changes as part of the Housing Market Renewal Programme. 500 new homes are being built at the old Parson Cross College site, and another 150 are being built at Adlington.

There are plans for a new library centre opposite Chaucer School, with other facilities - both community and commercial - to follow. There have already been landscaping and paving works at Margetson Crescent, and Parson Cross is due for improvements too.

A play based on the people of Parson Cross was commissioned to highlight the impact of this regeneration. It was written by Ashley Barnes - the Artistic Director of the Dead Earnest theatre company, and it was part of an Arts Council/Eventus/Sheffield City Council project.

'The View' features four fictional characters who live in Parson Cross. Three of them are residents who have spent their lives in the community, and the fourth is a newcomer...

Performing The View on Radio Sheffield

The play was performed live in June 2008 on Rony's Forum, in BBC Radio Sheffield's Open Centre. It was used as a catalyst for an invited audience of Parson Cross residents to comment on the play's action and to talk about the issues raised. Listeners joined in by phone, email and text.

Listen to the four parts of the play and the discussions in between by clicking on the links below.

The view of Parson Cross

All the material collected as part of Rony's broadcast has been given to architects working on the housing improvement programme in the area.