Our position on green belt sites proposed for development

Background

Sheffield City Council (SCC) recently announced proposed changes to the Local Plan, which outlines how and where development will take place in Sheffield through to 2039. A shortlist of 14 sites were proposed to be released from the green belt and used for development. Of the 14 sites identified, 10 are for housing development, 3 are for employment and 1 for mixed-use housing and employment.

In February, Government Inspectors laid out recommendations to Sheffield City Council including the need to provide more housing, and concluded that 38,012 additional homes are needed over the Local Plan period to meet needs – this is more than was initially set out in the Draft Local Plan. Thus the Council were tasked with identifying land for an additional 3,529 homes and an additional 53 hectares of land for employment uses. 

The Council explained brownfield sites are explored in the first instance, but that all of those options have been exhausted, so the demand for more housing must be met on green belt.

As national planning rules (National Planning Policy Framework – NPPF) only allow green belt land to be released in “exceptional circumstances”, SCC assessed the impact of releasing the proposed sites and deemed them to be low scoring against the purposes of green belt, thus justifying their release. However, some higher scoring sites are also identified for development.

On 14th May, Sheffield’s councillors voted on the proposed plans to release the green belt land for development: 45 supported, 31 opposed and 4 chose to abstain. The next step is a public consultation which will run until the 11th July.

Our position

Whilst we understand the need for further development in Sheffield, this must not come at a cost to local wildlife, and must not impact nature’s recovery or people’s access to nature.  

At Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust, we are working towards a “30 by 30” goal, aiming for at least 30% of land and water to be in great condition for nature by 2030. This requires protecting and restoring existing habitats to ensure nature is in recovery. 

Development on many of the proposed sites could be detrimental to this goal.

We have analysed each of the proposed sites and the evidence available, to determine the impact of the proposed development on nature. As a priority, we have considered the proximity of each site to Local Wildlife Sites – these are designated by Sheffield City Council to protect areas of special interest for biodiversity. These sites have been selected based on the significant habitats and species they contain and are deemed locally important as contributing both to local and national biodiversity, but are not legally protected. Further, we considered proximity to other priority habitats that we have identified (of varying conditions), impact on connectivity of habitats, and impact on people’s access to nature. 

We intend to object to plans to develop on the proposed sites which contain or envelope Local Wildlife Sites or other high priority habitats in good condition for nature (Land between Creswick Avenue and Yew Ln – SCC site ref NES37; Holme Ln Farm and land to the West of Grenoside Grange, Fox Hill Rd – SCC site ref NES38; Handsworth Hall Farm, land at Finchwell Rd – SCC site ref SES29). We believe that development on or surrounding such sites would negatively impact wildlife by degrading, fragmenting, or destroying vital habitats. 

Where proposed development sites partly border a Local Wildlife Site (Land at Forge Ln – SCC site ref NWS30; Land between Storth Ln and School Ln – SCC site ref NWS31; Land to the South of M1 motorway J.35 – SCC site ref NES36; Land at Wheel Ln and Middleton Ln – SCC site ref NES39; Land between Bramley Ln and Beaver Hill Rd – SCC site ref SES30; Land between Lodge Moor Rd and Redmires Conduit – SCC site ref SWS18; Land to the North of Parkers Ln – SCC site ref SWS19; Hesley Wood, North of Cowley Hill – SCC site ref CH04), we will consider whether the proposed buffers are enough to ensure development does not negatively impact the nearby habitats and wildlife, and campaign for adequate buffers to be put in place if necessary. 

For the remaining sites, we will make recommendations for proper mitigations to be put in place in situ to prevent impact on nearby habitats and connectivity, and encourage nature-friendly and sustainable development, including increased access to nature and greenspace for people.

We are concerned that the current plan does not reflect the ‘brownfield first’ policy that the Council have previously committed to.  Once these Green Belt sites are released, there is no provision to ensure that the allocated brownfield is developed prior to the Green Belt sites.

We will be submitting a response via the consultation, and will publish this in due course. If you have any information that you think would be useful to us in our response, or wish to chat with us, please contact the Advocacy team at takeaction@wildsheffield.com

We encourage you to take part in the public consultation to have your say on the proposals.

If you’d like to contact your local representative you can find help with composing an email here.