Sheffield City Council, with support from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), commissioned PRD in early 2024 to assess social and economic benefits of proposed extensions to its Supertram network for Sheffield city centre and city-region. The first extension would involve repurposing underused and disused railway infrastructure to connect Stocksbridge and Chesterfield to Sheffield city centre, covering a distance of 40 km and incorporating 17 stops. The other extensions would involve new track to extend existing tram infrastructure in the city centre, connecting Royal Hallamshire Hospital and the southern edge of the city centre through six new stops.

We started by developing a tram extension atlas which reviewed data relating to the communities and land uses falling within an 800m radius of each proposed stop. Data included house sale and rent prices, employment and income deprivation, risk of food poverty, land use, site allocations, local amenities, population density, and population characteristics. The atlas allowed us to identify development opportunities along the proposed routes and estimate what the tram extensions could bring in terms of new businesses, jobs, housing, and amenities. We also developed an individual one-page ‘spotlight’ report for each proposed tram stop to highlight local development opportunities and outcomes.

SYMCA then commissioned PRD to apply the same methodology to a potential tram extension from Rotherham to Killamarsh, which would pass through the region’s important Advanced Manufacturing Park.

In late 2024, SYMCA recommissioned PRD, our frequent collaborators Volterra, and transport consultancy Steer to review high-level feasibility of 13 potential extensions across the region. Steer then created a shortlist of the most feasible routes based on weighting considerations such as opportunities for housing and employment growth and existing public transport connectivity. Finally, our consortium performed more detailed assessments of housing and employment outcomes and overall financial sustainability of the shortlisted routes.

Excerpt from South Yorkshire tram extension atlas