Date: 23 October 2025

Council Admits Montague Street Closure Was Unlawful – Yet the Road Remains Blocked
Despite Sheffield City Council’s formal admission that the closure of Montague Street and the traffic order were made without legal basis, and that the road had been kept closed without any valid reason for a long period, the street remains barricaded and double-yellow lines are still in place—more than two weeks after the Council promised to reopen it and five weeks after a formal complaint was first submitted.

In a written response dated 7 October 2025, a senior Council solicitor confirmed that the Montague Street (Prohibition of Vehicles) Order 2025 “did not satisfy any of the criteria set out under section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984” and stated that “the Council therefore accepts that the TTRO should not have been made.” The same response also confirmed that the earlier 2021 order for waiting restrictions had expired in 2023 and that continuing to enforce it was equally unlawful.

Yet, as of 23 October 2025, the bollards and road-markings remain in place, keeping the street effectively closed and preventing access to local amenities and the adjacent GP surgery.

Campaigner David Glass, who first began raising complaints about the non-reopening of Montague Street back in February 2025, said:

“I started asking the Council many months ago in February why the road had never been reopened years after the works had finished. Their reaction was weeks of silence, then an illegal Temporary Traffic Regulation Order to keep it closed. Prior to my complaint they had simply been quietly not reopening the road and dragging their feet—probably in response to lobbying from a few individuals calling themselves the Cemetery Road Action Group, or CRAG. We seem to be right back in that same situation again. How long does it take to remove a few heavy concrete blocks? I have no confidence they are not simply buying time with inaction while organising another way to keep it closed.

If I ordered a few tons of sand from B & Q, they could have a HIAB lorry here the next day for a £30 delivery to remove those blocks without any difficulty—which could transport them away—so why can’t the Council do it after five weeks and still counting?”

Mr Glass launched a Change.org petition, which now has almost 550 signatures, calling for the reopening of Montague Street.

“Despite this clear public support, councillors have chosen not to answer my emails and instead claim to be working closely with a ‘local residents’ group’. I can only assume they mean CRAG—the Cemetery Road Action Group—a small set of anti-car activists who appear to have collaborated with the Council to keep the road closed unlawfully,” he said.

The Council has admitted that the decision to extend the closure was made after lobbying from CRAG and local councillors, yet the official reason given to the public at the time was “a likelihood of danger to the public.” The Council has now conceded there was no such safety reason.

In its formal complaint investigation dated 6 October 2025, a principal highways engineer confirmed that “the Council did not have a public-safety basis on which to make and implement the Temporary Traffic Regulation Order … Montague Street will be reopened as soon as practicable.” However, no timetable has been provided for the physical removal of the bollards or the repainting of the road.

Mr Glass added:

“The Council admits it acted unlawfully, admits the closure was based on lobbying, and admits the so-called safety justification was false, yet the road is still closed. Each day the bollards remain is a continuation of an illegality the Council itself has confessed to. It has now been more than two weeks since that admission and five weeks since I submitted my complaint. They appear to be doing nothing.”

The Council has also admitted that all parking tickets (PCNs) issued under the expired orders now need to be refunded, but has not provided any mechanism for affected drivers to claim reimbursement. They say they have identified just three fines in those years but admit there may be more.

“Anyone who was incorrectly fined on Montague Street should contact me via my campaign webpage or through the petition on Change.org,” said Mr Glass.
“My Change.org petition remains very much active as there are many outstanding issues still to resolve.” https://c.org/pMrdjzGzWG

Mr Glass’s Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) requests on 23 July 2025 for full disclosure of records surrounding the closure remain unanswered. The Council has already extended the legal deadline for response from 23 August 2025 to 7 November 2025, citing the “complexity” of the request. Under normal EIR timescales, a public authority should respond within 20 working days.

“If they miss that date, they will be in breach of the law yet again,” he said.
“The public has a right to know exactly who authorised this, why it happened, and why it’s still not been put right.”

The Council say:

“Lessons have been learned and additional measures will be put in place to ensure that all future decisions relating to temporary traffic regulation are made with legal compliance.”

But the public need to know what lessons and measures. They also need to know why this happened, who was behind it, and what motivated them—and whether this has happened before. I have written to the local councillors, who I understand were pushing this, and none have responded.

The local councillors for the Nether Edge and Sharrow ward are:
·       Cllr Ibby Ullah — ibby.ullah@councillor.sheffield.gov.uk (Labour & Co-operative)

·       Cllr Nighat Basharat — nighat.basharat@councillor.sheffield.gov.uk (Labour)

·       Cllr Maroof Raouf — maroof.raouf@councillor.sheffield.gov.uk (Green Party)
These councillors represent the Nether Edge and Sharrow ward of Sheffield. Wikipedia+2sheffieldcc.moderngov.co.uk+2

Mr Glass is now calling for:
1.     Immediate physical reopening of Montague Street to vehicles.

2.     Removal of all temporary yellow lines installed under expired orders.

3.     Full publication of all EIR documents, correspondence, and authorisations.

4.     A transparent refund process for unlawfully issued PCNs.

5.     A full public investigation into how and why the unlawful closure occurred.

6.     Accountability for councillor involvement and lobbying conflicts of interest.

“Parks and public roads belong to everyone in Sheffield, not just to a handful of well-connected anti-car activists who happen to live on an adjacent street,” Mr Glass said.
“This needs immediate action and a proper public investigation. The Council must explain how this happened and make sure it can never happen again.”

Residents who believe this situation is wrong and want the road reopened are urged to sign the Change.org petition at:
https://c.org/pMrdjzGzWG
Further information and updates and a contact method are available at website:
Re-0pen Montague Street :
https://sites.google.com/view/reopenmontaguestreet