These are the most controversial Sheffield developments, based on the number of objections​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Sheffield’s landscape is constantly evolving, with the multitude of cranes towering over the city a testament to the scale of construction taking place.
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But some developments prove more controversial than others, and The Star can reveal the proposals which have generated the most objections.

One planning application stands out as easily the most contentious, based on the number of people who submitted objections.

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The site off Hollin Busk Lane, between Deepcar and Stocksbridge, where up to 93 new homes are proposedThe site off Hollin Busk Lane, between Deepcar and Stocksbridge, where up to 93 new homes are proposed
The site off Hollin Busk Lane, between Deepcar and Stocksbridge, where up to 93 new homes are proposed
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Plans for up to 93 homes on grazing land off Hollin Busk Lane, between Deepcar and Stocksbridge, have so far prompted a whopping 491 objections.

The proposals topped the list for most objections received in both 2017 and 2018, and residents are still waiting for a decision to be made 17 months after the application was submitted.

It was one of just five schemes since 2016 which have generated more than 100 objections, a Freedom of Information request revealed.

John Hesketh, chairman of the Upper Don Action Group (UDAG)John Hesketh, chairman of the Upper Don Action Group (UDAG)
John Hesketh, chairman of the Upper Don Action Group (UDAG)

Plans for a drive-through restaurant beside South Yorkshire Police’s base in Ecclesfield, submitted in 2016, were withdrawn after 166 people objected.

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Proposal to convert The Plough Inn in Crosspool into a supermarket were rejected by councillors in 2017 after 153 people objected, many citing the pub’s historic role in the evolution of modern football.

A huge extension of Ecclesall Infant School, enabling it to more than triple the number of pupils, was approved that year, despite 113 people objected, though exactly the same number of people submitted comments in support.

The Plough InnThe Plough Inn
The Plough Inn

And in 2016, 105 people opposed plans for a new micro-pub on Cross Hill in Ecclesfield, which eventually got the go-ahead despite just three people commenting in support.

The figures only relate to individual comments and do not take into account petitions submitted in support or opposition of applications.

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Although members of Sheffield Council’s planning committee consider the public feeling when making their decisions, they must give regard to planning regulations and are guided by council officers who recommend approval or refusal.

John Hesketh, chairman of the Upper Don Action Group (UDAG) and a former chairman of the council’s planning committee, said he was not surprised the Hollin Busk Lane application had prompted the most objections.

“Although Sheffield is an industrial city, it’s surrounded by countryside and has more farms than any other city in Britain,” he said.

“This development would effectively create a new village in the countryside, within a couple of hundred yards of the national park and across the road from the Green Belt, and it presses all the right buttons when it comes to people wanting to protect what makes Sheffield special.

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“When you have that many people objecting, it’s appalling that they’ve been left in limbo, waiting for a decision, so long.”

Hallam Land Management, which submitted the application, has claimed the homes are needed to help fill the huge housing shortage locally.

The most contentious application so far this year, based on the number of objections, is one for a new telecommunications mast near The Plough Inn, which has been opposed by 44 people.

MOST OBJECTIONS BY YEAR

2019

New telecommunications mast on Sandygate Road, Crosspool – 44 objections (DECISION PENDING)

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New home on land surrounding 25 Pickard Crescent, Richmond – 21 objections (DECISION PENDING)

New home and parking on land surrounding 23 Pickard Crescent, RIchmond – 20 objections (DECISION PENDING)

Change of use from retail to hot food take away of Kelliz Off Licence & Grocer on Walkley Lane, Hillsborough – 16 objections (DECISION PENDING)

Three new homes on land opposite New Street, Stocksbridge – 15 objections (DECISION PENDING)

2018

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Up to 93 new homes on Hollin Busk Lane, near Deepcar – 301 objections (number of objections received in this year alone) (DECISION PENDING)

Twenty two new homes on Beacon Road, Wincobank – 67 objections (PLANS WITHDRAWN)

New Lidl supermarket on Stannington Road, Malin Bridge – 65 objections (DECISION PENDING)

Twenty two new homes off Long Line, Dore – 59 objections (DECISION PENDING)

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Twenty seven new homes off Coppice Close, Stocksbridge – 40 objections (DECISION PENDING)

2017

Up to 93 new homes on Hollin Busk Lane, near Deepcar – 173 objections (number of objections received in this year alone) (DECISION PENDING)

Screening request re Environmental Impact Assessment for up to 93 homes on Hollin Busk Lane, near Deepcar – 150 objections (Council determined that an assessment was necessary, but this decision was later overruled by the Government)

Extension to Ecclesall Infant School, to enable pupil numbers to increase from 180 to 630 – 113 objections (APPROVED)

2016

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Drive-through restaurant on The Common, Ecclesfield – 166 objections (WITHDRAWN)

Conversion of The Plough Inn, Crosspool, to supermarket – 153 objections (REFUSED)

Use of building on Cross Hill, in Ecclesfield, as micro-pub – 105 objections (APPROVED)