'NIMBY label feels like a punch in the gut as Sheffield verge petition shows hypocrisy' - Reader's letter
Rob Reiss, Lib Dem Councillor for East, Ecclesfield on green belt and grass verges....
The word “NIMBY” has been thrown around a great deal in recent years by Labour and the Green Party, who voted to build on Sheffield’s Green Belt.
It has become an easy insult aimed at residents in the north and southeast of the city who are protesting these decisions, used to dismiss real issues over traffic, biodiversity loss, flooding, and access to health services. It is an insult that will hit the Riddle family hardest, as they face the prospect of having their farming livelihood stripped away.
For many residents, being labelled a NIMBY feels like a punch in the gut when they are raising real, evidence based problems. But it lands even harder when it comes from a place of rank hypocrisy.
That hypocrisy is embodied in a petition started by the mother of a Sheffield Green Party Councillor in Ecclesall.
Her petition sought to prevent the sale of a small highway verge to the owner of the adjacent property. I have walked past that verge many times over the years. It has never stood out, nor seemed particularly notable, especially when compared to the beautiful All Saints Ecclesall cemetery directly across the road.
They gathered 2,000 signatures to oppose the sale on the basis that the owner might one day develop the land. I do not blame those who signed, but perhaps the pair, who are fighting tooth and nail to say “Not In My Back Yard” over sixty square metres of verge, should feel some shame, given their support for developing 1.1 million square meters of Green Belt in and around Chapeltown, with the associated loss of nature, biodiversity and, in the Riddles’ case, livelihoods. We are living through a nature and biodiversity crisis. We are also seeing a crisis of trust in our politicians to act with fairness and integrity.
This act of true NIMBYism from the Sheffield Green Party and its council