Sheffield Hallam University: City MPs demand Collegiate Campus is used for housing amid green belt homes row
Sheffield MPs have urged a cash-strapped Sheffield university to convert a main campus into housing.
Parliamentarians sent a joint letter to Sheffield Hallam University asking it to allocate Collegiate Campus for homes.
It comes as residents battle Sheffield City Council over plans for build 3,500 homes on 14 green belt sites in the city. The authority says it is necessary because all brownfield plots have been spoken for.
Earlier this year, Sheffield Hallam announced plans to leave the 22-acre Collegiate site off Ecclesall Road when its new £140m City Campus opens in September.
Clive Betts, MP for Sheffield South East, said: “Given the city council is - extremely controversially - looking to find sites for 3,500 homes in green belt, using more brownfield land seems an obvious move.
“Using Collegiate Campus for housing could provide income for Sheffield Hallam University - it’s a win, win all round.”
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Some estimate the campus, which includes seven listed buildings, could be worth £30m, or more.
Mr Betts has previously objected to plans for “1,638 homes in just one postcode” on Handsworth green belt land, which is in his constituency.
Marie Tidball, MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, said she knew there had been “real heartache” caused by allocations in her constituency, which includes almost 1,000 homes on three sites in Grenoside.
Following a meeting with residents earlier this month, she said: “I agree with the concerns raised by constituents that there is an unequal distribution of green belt land in our constituency, namely S35, that is being released under the local plan.
“The council is taking a brownfield-first approach, which is right, with green belt release being a last resort, but there are more opportunities to identify additional brownfield sites and spread green belt sites more fairly across the authority.”
The local plan is a blueprint for development in Sheffield over the next 14 years. It includes housing targets set by government.
A spokesperson said it would be in use for “some time to come”.
“Our Collegiate Campus continues to be home for thousands of students and staff from our College of Health, Wellbeing and Lifesciences. The campus will continue to be an important part of our estate for some time to come.”
The campus includes more than 20 buildings between Ecclesall and Clarkehouse roads.
The imposing Collegiate Hall, the castellated Main Building and large Victorian and Edwardian villas at numbers 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 Collegiate Crescent, are all listed.
It also includes the Southbourne and Whitehouse complex, a nursery, the Mary Badland lecture theatre, the Saunders building and, on Broomhall Road, the Robert Winston building and Annexe and the Woodville Teaching centre.
The area was used for various schools and colleges before becoming part of Sheffield Polytechnic in 1969.
It was owned by Sheffield City Council until Hallam became one of the post-1992 new universities, when it was given the freehold to the entire site.
In December, university chiefs said the 2024/25 budget required savings of more than £40m - some 12 per cent of its £330m turnover - and costs would need to reduce further in future years.
Last year, about 500 people left through voluntary severance, more than 10 per cent of the workforce.
The December statement added: “In September, we welcomed nearly 28,000 new and returning students to Sheffield Hallam for the 2024/25 academic year. This demonstrates that Sheffield Hallam continues to be one of the largest and most popular universities in the country.”