Sheffield green belt: MP Clive Betts calls for review after 24 sites in west of city dropped

Clive Betts, MP for Sheffield South East, told constituents “I am not convinced these proposals are fair” after Sheffield City Council published a list of sites that were ‘not shortlisted’.

The authority has drawn up plans for 3,529 houses and 130 acres for business across 14 green belt sites.

In the west of the city, Dore could get 82 homes and Lodge Moor 258. But Mr Betts described this as “virtually non-existent,” compared to Handsworth where “1,638 homes are being considered in just one postcode.”

The list of sites ‘not shortlisted’ includes 12 in postcode S17 - Dore, Totley and Bradway - seven in Ecclesall, S11, and five in Fulwood and Lodge Moor, S10.

A council report states they are not recommended ‘taking into account the sustainability appraisal, impact on green belt purposes, planning appraisal and availability information’.

Mr Betts said he had written to the Planning Inspectorate requesting sites be considered that had not previously been forward to “produce a fairer distribution across the city.”

He added: “Many residents have written to me about the green belt allocation in the latest stage of Sheffield's Draft Local Plan.

“This has been particularly acute in Handsworth which currently faces over 40 per cent of the new allocation of housing on green belt.

“My constituents are not NIMBYs, they understand the need for more housing so younger generations can afford properties the way they did. What they do have though is a keen sense of fairness; and currently I am not convinced these proposals are fair.”

Would you like more stories like this in your inbox? Sign up to our free daily newsletter today

He added: “I absolutely support house building and have no objections to house building in my constituency, even on some of the green belt sites where required, but I cannot support the level of house building currently being proposed, specifically in Handsworth where 1,638 homes are being considered in just one postcode.

“The restrictions on what sites can now be considered given the time frame set by the Planning Inspectorate means that proposed development in the west of the city is virtually non-existent.”

The green belt proposals are to meet government housing quotas in the Local Plan, a blueprint for development over the next 14 years.

The council says it has been forced to choose green belt because brownfield sites have been ‘maximised’ and ‘options for providing land in the urban areas have been comprehensively explored’.

A report states the “concentration” in the north and south east is due to land put forward by owners, current and planned public transport - especially railway stations and tram stops - and “proximity to jobs and local facilities.”

An extraordinary meeting of the full council will debate the proposals at Sheffield Town Hall today - Wednesday, May 14.