Sheffield Lib Dems pledge to save the Rose Garden Cafe

The Sheffield Liberal Democrats have pledged their full support of the Save the Rose Garden Café campaign, during a heated debate at a meeting of the Full Council yesterday.

The Council received a petition from local resident Liz Hnat totalling over 11,000 signatures, asking the Council to repair the Rose Garden Café in Graves Park, which was unexpectedly closed on July 27th with no notice after a council report found that its roof was unstable and a risk to visitors.

A property appraisal conducted in 2018 shows that the Council was aware of the disrepair at the café over four years ago. The report, which was undertaken as part of regular data collection on the Council estate, graded the overall café’s condition as C (Poor), with its roof given the lowest score of D (Bad – Non operational or about to fail).

When the Lord Mayor, Sioned-Mair Richards, asked for clarification on why no action was taken in 2018 following the damning report, there was no answer forthcoming from the Chair of the Charity Trustee Sub-Committee, Cllr Bryan Lodge.

Lib Dem Councillor Ian Auckland pledged his unreserved support to the campaign, pledging “Save the Rose Garden Café, no to demolition!”. He also argued for the trusteeship of Graves Park to be transferred to the South Local Area Committee in order to bring decision making on the park closer to the residents, arguing that “if this had been the case four years ago, when a report came through in 2018 that the roof was in disrepair, then the necessary repairs would have been arranged”.

Prior to the meeting, Liberal Democrat councillors joined campaigners outside the town hall, who gathered to demand that the Council committed to fully repairing and restoring the Cafe.

Lib Dem Councillor Richard Shaw also pledged his support to the campaign in the Council chamber, condemning “four wasted years, due to Labour sitting on their hands”. He also called for further city-wide Community Infrastructure Levy funds to be directed to the Café’s repair.

Save the Rose Garden Café campaigner Andy Kershaw thanked the Liberal Democrat councillors for Beauchief & Greenhill and Graves Park for pledging to contribute £10,000 from each of their wards “Community Infrastructure Levy” funds to the repair of the Rose Garden Café, and said that they had been “absolutely wonderful”.

However, he criticised Cllr Lodge for stating that responsibility for the workers at the café laid with the operator Brewkitchen, arguing that the responsibility for the lost jobs laid with the Council’s lack of maintenance on the café.

Following the meeting, no commitment was made regarding a way forward for the Café, as the Council is waiting on full information from surveyors regarding the structural integrity of the building. Work to produce a list of options is still in the early stages, with contractors currently installing props to allow access to the roof for inspection.

A decision was made to refer the issue of the Rose Garden Café back to the Charity Trustee Subcommittee, which will meet in due course.

The Rose Garden Café fiasco is unfolding in the context of broader concern around the Council’s estate. The amount of ‘critical and essential’ maintenance required across all Council buildings over the next 5 years is estimated at £48,000,000 according to a report coming to the Finance Sub-Committee next week.

Cllr Clement-Jones, chair of the South LAC, stated “I’m incredibly disappointed by the situation at the Rose Garden Café. This Council needs to take a long look at how this has been allowed to happen. Neglecting maintenance for so many years is simply irresponsible use of taxpayer money, as the costs to repair a dilapidated building are so much higher than upkeep. The previous do-nothing Labour administration, through its neglect of its buildings, has completely failed to provide value for money for Sheffield residents”.