'People don't think voting will have any impact'

Sheffield's Southey ward saw the lowest turnout in the city in the recent local election, with fewer than 20% of people casting their ballot.

But when some wards saw more than half the electorate show up at polling stations, what is it that puts people in this northern corner of Sheffield off voting?

Mount Tabor Church at Parson Cross seems an unlikely place to find an Irish folk band, but when I arrive musicians are belting out songs from the altar.

The Tabor Band is one of several groups which are part of Parson Cross Initiative, a social inclusion charity which supports people who need anything from foodbank supplies to a friendly face.

Parson Cross is in the Southey ward, a Labour stronghold for more than 40 years.

On average, turnout figures in local elections across the country sit at about 35% but in Southey they rest at just 19.72% - or 2,746 of the 14,108 people registered to vote.

Politicians like to bang the drum about people voting but in this part of Sheffield, it seems some voters don't like the tune they are playing.

Guitarist Terry Stanton tells me he always votes.

“It’s important, because everybody's vote counts and if you do not vote, you are letting yourself and your family down," he says.

"If you are not happy with a party, you turn your vote against them.”

His bandmate and lead singer Pete Jamieson agrees.

“I always vote, you could be the person who gets a party into power but there is a lot of apathy.

"People cannot be bothered, they do not know who to vote for.”

While Terry and Pete are keen to have their say, others tell me they don't trust politicians to do what they say they will.

Nicola Carter is a volunteer at the initiative and did not vote in this month's local elections.

“I have never voted, it is not something I have ever been interested in doing," she says.

"I do not see the point because politicians say one thing and do what they want anyway.

“They all make promises to get your vote and just backtrack, I do not vote in any election and never have.”

Another volunteer Lisa, who did not want to give her surname, does vote but it seems reluctantly.

“You tell them what is needed around the estate but they do not follow through," she says.

"It needs somewhere for youths to go, there is nowhere for them to go, and that is when you get the antisocial behaviour.

"If you raise it with the council nothing changes, nothing changes at all.”

Southey ward election results 2023

• Gareth Edward Slater, Labour Party, 1438 votes
• Andrew Hards, Green Party, 376 votes
• Andrew Mark Smith, Conservative Party, 319 votes
• Tony Damms, Independent, 318 votes
• Kevin Grum, Liberal Democrats, 196 votes
• Harry John Lomas, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, 99 votes

Nick Waterfield is chairman of Parson Cross Initiative and says there are several reasons people in the area are not going to the polls.

“People do talk about national politics, they certainly talk about the impact of the government," he tells me.

"They talk less about the council, as for many people they see the council simply as their landlord, so I think some of the other issues with the council get blurred.

“I do not think it is a lack of interest in politics, it is perhaps a lack of understanding, or a lack of interest as to how the council operates.

“People do not feel that voting in the local elections will have any impact on their lives or community, that the big decisions are taken elsewhere.

“They need to see changes in the health service, in how they access a local dentist, changes in benefit levels or employment law - all those kinds of bigger issues which in many cases are seen as not something that the council has a lot of impact on.”

Down the road from the church is the bustling Tracy’s Kitchen, serving sandwiches and buns to a queue of customers.

Tracy Shore-Gruia feels people’s trust in politicians is at rock bottom.

“I think right now the relationship between the council, the government and local people is at an all-time low.

"I do not think that people have faith, I talk to people all the time in here and sometimes they talk about politics, they feel let down.

“The overriding difficulty and issue is that people do not have the trust or faith anymore and so people are not believing what the politicians say.”

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