Catalyst for change can be looked at using the PEST analysis.
P olitical
E conomical
S ocial
T echnical
Political factors that can be a catalyst for change are government plans and research for example child obesity or anything else the government feel should change.
Economical factors which are to do with money and the amount of people in and out of jobs etc. the government need to bring about change and make sure things like this are not getting out of hand.
Social factors include trends which the government need to take interest in. An example of a major trend which brought about catalyst for change is peoples growing interest in health and fitness. more and more pople are wanting to train in gyms and health and fitness clubs. this ment that the government started to introduce more and more health and fitness clubs in the city for example ‘Virgin Active’ and ‘Greens Health and Fitness’.
Technical Factors include the growing interest of the internet, with more and more people turning to the internet to do there shopping, banking and many more things that was once a lot harder to do. The internet also shows all visitor attractions and much more information about the City of Sheffield. the internet makes it easier for the government and council to get things across to the public about what they have to offer.
The Planning Process
The local government have a ten year plan which is called the unitary plan. The planning process looks at wear the city’s are going and what demographic changes are taking place for example the growing demand fro gyms in local areas. Because it is becoming more and more popular to go to the gym and keep fit the government needs to make sure that there are facilities available in local areas for people to access.
Other things that might be included in this plan could be child obesity, or crime rates in local areas, i.e. car crime etc.
The Different Components
Below I will talk about how well Sheffield does in the in the seven components.
Sport and Physical Recreation:
Sheffield is a great place for this component. The city is home to the E.I.S which is the English institute of sport, and I think this alone puts Sheffield quite high up when it comes to sport and physical recreation.
Sheffield also has a great number of health and Fitness clubs, it is home to the more popular and prestige clubs like Greens and Esporta, but the city is also packed with smaller clubs like Concord Sports Centre and many other smaller clubs.
Because Sheffield is home to two professional football teams again this boost there position when it comes to sport and physical recreation.
Overall I give Sheffield a mark of 9 out of 10 in this category.
Catering:
Catering in Sheffield is good apart from if you are looking for somewhere a bit more classy. Sheffield is full of Pizza Hits, Burger Kings, and Mc Donalds, but there are no nice fancy restaurants around for if your wanting to take a chick on a date etc.
Overall I would give Sheffield 7 out of 10.
Home Based Leisure:
The evidence suggests that Sheffield is quite good as far as home based leisure is concerned. The city has lots of block buster video stores and many retail stores that sell the latest video games and all other things that you may need for home entertainment. Examples of other retail stores that support home based leisure are: Hobbycraft, WH Smiths, HMV, Comet, Currys, Dixons. Sheffield also has a number of games workshops which sell more specific computer games and also play certain board games in the shop. I think that Sheffield scores 9 out of 10 for this category.
Arts and Entertainment:
Sheffield is home to the Crucible which is an international venue for the world snooker championships. There are also a number of other theatres including the Merlin Theatre which is a small voluntary theatre which also puts on voluntary shows for the general public. The Merlin Theatre is another example of a voluntary run organisation which works in a similar way to the Merlin theatre. The Lyceum is a private run organisation. Sheffield Is also home to the Sheffield Hallam Arena which is a major venue for all kinds of arts and entertainment.
7 out of 10
Childs Play:
Sheffield is a good place for child’s play with many parks near to local areas. All the parks are very easily accessible with good bus and tram services running through most areas of the city. Sheffield has 130 children’s play areas located in its parks and open spaces. The development and maintenance of the parks in taken care of by woodlands and countryside services. Hear are three of the more popular parks; Millhouses, Rather Valley, Norfolk Park. 8 out of 10.
Countryside Recreation:
Sheffield scores top marks in this category as it’s the greenest city in Europe with more trees to each person than any other city. Has Sheffield is situated right next to the peak district there is loads to do in terms of country side recreation.
Because Sheffield is situated right next to the peak district, there are many rambling associations, and out door activity groups which organise things like rock climbing and orienteering etc.
I would definitely give Sheffield 10 out of 10 for countryside recreation.
Hear are a list of some of the country side attractions which are within a 40 minute drive of the city: Forge dam, Loxley and Wadsley Commen, Oxley Park, Rivelin Valley park, Sycamore park, Westwood Country Park, Whirlow Brook Park, Wyming Brook and threre are many more.
Scores 10 out of 10.
Evaluation:
Overall Sheffield doesn’t to badly in all of the seven sectors, but I think this must be expected has Sheffield is one of the largest city’s in the country. I will now briefly summarise all of the seven components.
Starting with ‘sport and physical recreation’ were the evidence suggests that Sheffield is an excellent city in terms of this specific sector. has I have explained above Sheffield has some major attractions in this specific area i.e. E.I.S (English Institute of Sport).
Now moving on to catering, I think Sheffield is in need of some more prestige restaurants has the city is packed out with all the popular fast food restaurants i.e. McDonalds, Burger King. Because Sheffield doesn’t have the classy restaurants like some of the other bigger city’s this drastically effects its status in this particular area.
Home based leisure on the other hand scores highly but again I think this is mainly due to the fact that Sheffield is a big city and as if its not going to sell a lot of home based leisure products i.e. ‘Home Base’ , after all there are a lot of houses in a big city!
We now come to ‘arts and entertainment’ were the evidence suggests that Sheffield scores highly with quite a few small theatres like the Merlin theatre producing some excellent shows. Sheffield is also home to the Lyceum which is quite a popular and famous theatre showing some of the more famous plays etc.
Now on to child’s play were has said above scores very well which plenty of parks etc for the kids to explore. I think has Sheffield is known as being a very green city this helps in providing areas for kids parks and play areas to be developed.
On now to the last one which is ‘country side recreation’, I don’t think much really needs to be said about this as I think everyone known how near we are to the peak district which is packed with things to do i.e. rambling, walking and many outdoor pursuit activities to be enjoyed.
