The Sheffield neighbourhood where burglaries never get solved

Good afternoon readers — and welcome to our Monday briefing.

In one deprived Sheffield area, not one of the 104 burglaries that took place in the last three years was solved. Crime detection rates have been falling across the country for almost a decade — but are worst in areas where there is more crime and social need. Today, we take a look at the data and ask whether the impact of austerity has damaged South Yorkshire Police's ability to investigate crime.

As well as that, we have a beautiful home of the week in Kelham Island, some information about the welcome return of a neighbourhood festival after two Covid-hit years, and a story about a long-forgotten Sheffield recording studio.

Editor’s note: Today we reached another major milestone on the way to creating a sustainable model of local news in Sheffield. 700 members now pay for our journalism, less than a year after we launched our subscription service. A huge thank you to everyone who has helped us so far.

Catch up and coming up

Sheffield Theatres’ ambitious triptych of plays Rock/Paper/Scissors have been getting rave reviews since they opened last week. You can now read our review of all three plays here.

Last week we sent one long read out to our 700 members about a “right to roam” row at Wentworth Castle near Barnsley. We also sent an in-depth survey out to our subscribers to find out how they think The Tribune should develop over the next 12 months. Thank you to everyone who has filled in it. An extract from the Wentworth Castle piece is below:

Wentworth Castle and Gardens is a monument to the vast wealth and status accrued by aristocrats in the 18th and 19th centuries — but it has recently (through Barnsley Council) been owned by local people. While the National Trust’s need to help fund its activities is clear, the ethics of closing off the entire site to the general public are less clear-cut.

This week we’ll send out two more including a piece about the cuts to arts and humanities subjects that are taking place at Sheffield Hallam University, and another about the dangerous world of “free solo” rock climbing. To get both of this week’s newsletters, become a member of The Tribune today to help fund a new way of doing journalism in Sheffield.

Membership appeal: We are still operating The Tribune on a shoestring budget and with a tiny team. To help us grow into the kind of newsroom that can employ a wider range of writers and produce high-quality journalism in Sheffield for years to come, please consider subscribing using the button below. It costs just £1.34 a week if you pay upfront for the year.

The big picture: A city of makers

A painting created by Sheffield-based illustrator, muralist and sign-writer Will Rea and Sheffield Museums’ Young Makers group is currently on display at Weston Park Museum. Ignite Yorkshire recently interviewed Will about his work with the group Museum Youth and his love for his adopted city’s heritage.

This week’s weather

Our weather forecast comes from dedicated Sheffield weather service Steel City Skies, who say stubborn low pressure will deliver a bright and breezy pattern through the week with showers in between drier spells.

Monday 🌦 Soon becoming wetter with widespread showers pushing east by late morning, clearing later in the day. Cooler with highs of 18°C.

Tuesday ☁ Drier by day but quite a lot of cloud as a weakening occlusion approaches. Windy but warmer in any fleeting brightness, with the risk of patchy light rain overnight. Highs of 20°C.

Wednesday 🌦 Still breezy near a new low pressure, with a mixture of bright spells and showers — most prominent in the afternoon. Highs of 20°C.

Thursday 🌦 The pattern remains the same with further afternoon showers and drier and brighter periods in between. Highs around 20°C.

Friday 🌦 Perhaps fewer showers overall, but not a lot of change with pleasant bright spells and a scattering of showers. Highs of 20°C.

Outlook: Still some showers likely on Saturday, but a trend to warmer and drier weather is favoured as high pressure builds from the southwest.

To see the full forecast and keep up to date with any changes to the outlook, follow Steel City Skies on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

The big story: The Sheffield neighbourhood where burglaries never get solved

Top line: Not one of the 104 burglaries that have taken place in one deprived Sheffield neighbourhood in the last three years has been solved, new policing figures show.

City-wide data: Statistics released by police show Sheffield has one of the lowest rates for solving burglaries in England and Wales. In the three years from May 2019 to April 2022, less than 1 in 20 burglaries in the city were solved (4.5%).

Local detail: While Sheffield as a whole is below average for solving burglaries, the city-wide data masks even worse figures in some areas. In several parts of the city, for almost all of the burglaries that took place in the last three years, no suspect was ever identified.

• In Beighton, for example, 96 of the 97 burglaries that took place in the last three years were left unsolved, while in Beauchief the figure was 80 unsolved out of 81.
• However, the worst place in England and Wales for unsolved burglaries is Parson Cross, where none of the 104 that took place there in the last three years were solved.

Other crimes: Detection rates in Sheffield were a bit higher for robberies, with 15.6% being solved. But some crimes fared even worse than burglaries, with investigations into 98.3% of personal thefts like pickpocketing and 98.9% of bicycle thefts never identifying a suspect.

Impact of austerity: The swingeing spending cuts that began under the coalition government in 2010 had a huge impact on public services. Police numbers were cut by 20,000 in the 2010s, while 600 police stations were also closed.

• As well as reducing police resources, austerity cuts also led to big reductions in welfare benefits and local services, potentially having an impact on crime.
• In 2019, the government pledged to replace the 20,000 officers that had been lost over the previous decade. 800 have been recruited in South Yorkshire so far.

Detection rates: Despite rising crime rates, throughout the 2010s, the proportion of crimes that were successfully solved fell markedly, particularly in deprived areas that had more crime. Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, last year said:

“Detection rates are an issue nationwide and especially in those force areas where there are relatively high rates of crime. Those areas tend to be places where there is considerable poverty, higher levels of unemployment and where local services have been seriously cut back over the past decade.”

Bottom line: In an era of austerity, it is understandable that police forces use their limited resources to prioritise the most serious crimes. As a result, many police forces no longer routinely send officers to domestic burglaries and other supposedly “less serious” crimes. However, in a situation where almost no one who commits certain types of offences is ever even identified let alone charged, and the few that are wait years to come before a court, it is also understandable that people have little confidence in the justice system.

Home of the week

This four-bedroomed townhouse in Kelham Island is spread over four levels and has a range of eco-features including triple-glazing and solar panels. It is on the market for £380,000.

Our favourite reads

The council house that became a pioneer of rock recording 🎸 A lovely piece in The Guardian by northern editor Helen Pidd about an influential Sheffield recording studio that operated from a Handsworth council house in the 1970s and 1980s. Studio Electrophonique launched the careers of The Human League and Pulp but is now almost forgotten. A new documentary about the legendary studio is on at Sheffield DocFest on Tuesday afternoon.

Too trendy to make stuff 💍 The Star reports that two businesses in Kelham Island are to be forced out of their premises to make way for new homes. If cabinet maker Paul McCarthy and silversmiths Perry Glossop and Co leave the alms houses on Alma Street, it is believed there will be just one manufacturer left in the area: heritage ladder maker WH Hulley on Ebenezer Street. Coincidentally, Rock/Paper/Scissors has an almost identical story!

3 Theatres, 3 Plays, One Cast, All at Once 🎭 Sheffield doesn’t often feature in the august pages of the New York Times (believe me, I check regularly) so when it does it’s a bit of a red letter day. Unsurprisingly, it’s Rock/Paper/Scissors which has caught the old gray lady’s attention, and the piece has some fascinating details of how the logistics of the three plays work. It also has some excellent photos of the cast sprinting between the theatres.

Bowie film opens DocFest

Sheffield City Hall was packed on Thursday evening for the premiere of new David Bowie film Moonage Daydream at DocFest. The premiere marked 50 years since the legendary rock star played the same venue on his Ziggy Stardust tour. There are now just a few days left of DocFest although many of the films in the programme are also available to watch online.

Things to do

Photography: Open from this Thursday, June 30 until October at the Millennium Gallery is Creative Connections Sheffield, a new exhibition of portraits of famous Sheffielders. As well as photos of poet Otis Mensah and Rebecca Lucy Taylor (Self Esteem), the centrepiece of the show is an installation, based around a decommissioned bus shelter, which has been created by Manor-born artist Conor Rogers along with pupils from Sheffield Park Academy.

Festival: The Walkley Festival is back this summer after two Covid-hit years, bringing a “feast of fun and learning” to the historic “urban village” from Friday, June 24 until Sunday, July 10. Highlights this week include well-dressing at St Mary’s Church (June 29 to July 2) and the Millennium Green 30th birthday on Saturday, July 2. For a full list of all the events, see the Zest website or pick up a programme from businesses and venues on South Road.

Tour: From buffer girls to business owners, and magnet makers to wartime workers, women have played a vital, if sometimes overlooked, role in Sheffield’s industrial heritage. Find out about the women who shaped Sheffield’s metalwork industries in Women of Steel, a special guided lunchtime tour around Kelham Island Museum’s extensive collection on Wednesday, June 29 (1.00pm-1.45pm). The tour is free but booking is recommended.