The study noted the decline in status of the city centre and recommended a long-term strategy for the unification of The Moor and Fargate through a major retail development.
The Secretary of State confirmed by letters dated 25 September 2006 and 9 October 2006 that he did not wish to intervene, and that the decision as to whether to grant outline planning permission and the associated listed building consents would therefore remain with the council.
[10] On 29 January 2009, the Sheffield Star reported that the project had been put on hold indefinitely, based on an interview with the city's regeneration company who retracted the statement the following day.
[11] Despite the uncertainty, the demolition of the Wellington Street fire station, began in December 2009, with agreement that the site would be used as a temporary car park until work begun.
The money plus a further £10 million contributed by the developers Hammerson would be used to part finance the compulsory purchase of all the empty shops and land needed to build the scheme.
[14] However, the project continued to stall and in March 2012, John Lewis announced that it was no longer seeking to move from its current store into the Sevenstone development.
The three partners have accelerated discussions by which the Sevenstone retail led project can be brought forward for delivery in Sheffield City Centre.
It is anticipated that the new scheme will include up to 700,000 sq ft of retail with extensive food and entertainment venues along with a multi storey car park and high quality public realm throughout.
This will make a significant step change and will boost Sheffield City Centre's status back up the retail ranking index.
[17] Work on the project began in 2017, which saw Grosvenor House Hotel demolished and replaced with a new HSBC office with retail units at ground level.