Eyesores Update

The view from Blacka, at its best, and from certain vantages, can be as fine as anything in the district. When taking photographs or even painting landscapes we tend to choose the best outlooks if we can and ignore those that, for various reasons, offend our senses.

But when we are simply walking and casually scanning the surrounding view our eyes take in more than the limited selection framed by an artist and there are a few eyesores that force themselves on the attention, by virtue of disproportionate scale or poor design or just being the wrong thing in the wrong place; sometimes it's a combination of any or all of these. A number of these have reduced the appeal over recent years. By recent I mean the last 30 years or so; after all the landscape has been here for many thousands of years and for much of that time remained largely the same to any observer looking down from the western hills. Because Blacka's view looks east as it slopes up to higher ground to the west, the best middle distance views are in the area around Dore, Totley, Bradway and Holmesfield. Inevitably the least attactive aspects are also in those parts and mainly in the Dore vicinity.

The most offensive buildings are usually the largest. The retirement flats at Fairthorn have been the subject of controversy since they first went up. The building's prominent position should have made it only suitable for an example of the most distinguished architecture. Instead it was designed by a jobsworth firm to a brief that was changed partway through to allow for an extra floor, hence extra profit for the owners. Aesthetically it's a scandal and the worst of that is the ease with which it sailed through Sheffield's planning system, upvc windows and all. Each time my eyes turn that way I still find it hard to believe it's there; but then Sheffield's Town Hall is not noted for good taste and professional enlightenment. The sun still catches the roof tiles in early hours of the day making it impossible to ignore.

This view combines the blot in Dore with one of SWT's latest blots. The heather might as well have been burned for grouse production. It beats me that some people enthuse about 'open' heather moorland yet don't seem to make the connection - that this too is an industrial site prone to being scarred for industrial purposes.

Whatever King Ecgbert's School's internal values are from the hills around the unrelenting straight lines are ablot on the landscape almost as irritating as Fairthorn.

Not long ago Old Whitelow Farm at the head of Whitelow Lane looked to be a positive story. After many years of storing caravans intrusively all the caravans disappeared, seemingly coinciding with sales of the land. The stone buildings seen from Blacka are not unattractive in themselves and compatible with similar local properties that blend well with a district that visible from a national park. For several months we've been able to think the previous incompatibility had been removed. Now suddenly all has changed and things are back to what caused the initial problem. But instead of 30 or so caravans there have now appeared many more cars obviously stored for some industrial purpose.

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Oilseed rape crops have recently been appearing in May. They are not favoured by those with a sensitive eye for the landscape of 50 years ago and earlier. Should any more of the green fields seen from these hills take on a yellow look in early spring it will take the edge off the enjoyment of many.