Budget agreed to improve cycling and walking route over historic Sheffield bridge
Ball Street Bridge has been closed to traffic for the past six years
Last updated 17th Apr 2026
The budget has been agreed to plan upgrades to the route over a historic Sheffield bridge to help walkers and cyclists get around Kelham Island and Neepsend.
Sheffield City Council’s finance and performance policy committee this week (April 13) agreed to spend £98,000 to start feasibility and preliminary design works for an accessible route at Ball Street.
Options will be investigated for ways to create an accessible route over Ball Street Bridge, which is closed to traffic using temporary planter barriers.
A report to the committee said: “The overall aim of this project is to join up walking, wheeling, and cycling infrastructure in Kelham and Neepsend with existing infrastructure across the A61 Inner Ring Road to enhance accessibility for cyclists and pedestrians.”
The grade II-listed three-span iron bridge across the River Don near Kelham Weir was built in 1856 by Milton Iron Works of Elsecar, Barnsley. It was rebuilt in 1864 after the devastation of the Great Sheffield Flood and widened to accommodate traffic in 1900.
It has been closed off to vehicles since 2020.
The project will be funded from what is known as Section 106 income. Under planning law, developers have to contribute to local authorities to help mitigate the impact of some projects.
This money can be used to pay for local infrastructure and community facilities.
Coun Glynis Chapman said that the council had received a lot of money for active travel and wanted to know if the Section 106 budget was being used because that had been spent.
Finance manager Damian Watkinson replied that it was a request from councillors in the area to use the funding to deliver the scheme.
Further discussion was curtailed by a reminder from legal counsel David Hollis that the actions of councillors cannot be discussed in the pre-election period.
Coun Douglas Johnson said there had been a plan 10-15 years ago to build a Brooklyn Bridge-style bridge behind the museum, and another to build a bridge over the goit – the mill race channel from the river to Kelham Island.
However, neither plan transpired and the Section 106 money set aside needs to be spent in the area, he said.