“But Bob, you don’t understand, you don’t get it”

In December 2019 Coun Bob Johnson, Labour councillor, and cabinet member for planning and development at Sheffield Council said: “The recent declaration of the Climate Emergency… adds impetus to the need to secure sustainable sites for housing growth in the city.”

Indeed it does, Bob.

He suggested: “A stronger focus on the central area would potentially support lower-carbon living,” and goes on to say that the council is intent on focusing on the re-use of brownfield sites.

That’s great to hear Bob, and very sensible, especially given the Climate Emergency declared by the council and central government.

So we’d like to know Bob, why are you so intent on the destruction of a site declared to be a Habitat of Principal Importance by DEFRA and Natural England?

I speak of Owlthorpe Fields of course.

The council intends to sell an initial eight acres of the land to Avant Homes to build 74 houses, with another 12 acres up for grabs.

Bob also said of the developing housing plan: “The plan needs to reflect what people are telling us about where they live and work.”

Yes Bob, people here in Owlthorpe have been telling you, vociferously, how we want to live.

And you’ve been doing your level best to ignore us.

Bob says he ‘understands how important the city’s parks, woodlands and open spaces are to Sheffield people… and that the council wants to protect them for generations to come’.

But Bob, you don’t understand, you don’t get it.

You just keep bleating out the council’s tired mantra, about how the site was ‘earmarked’ for housing in the 1960s, as if such ‘earmarking’ has any relevance in the 21st century.

Interestingly, the council fails to mention “a new junior and infant school… with playing fields” that was also ‘earmarked’ back then, and clearly shown in a council publication.

Bob, I have to tell you, with respect, you obviously have no idea of just how important the 20-acre rewilded space of Owlthorpe Fields is to us.

We don’t have a local park, or any open space apart from Owlthorpe Fields.

The kids need it, parents need it, we all need it.

We keep telling you how much we need this wonderful space, not only for local residents to walk and run in, take our dogs for walks, delight in nature, go birdwatching, maintain our mental wellbeing, but also because we recognise how important the fields are to the local environment.

Owlthorpe Fields acts as a carbon sink, it mitigates flood risk through its trees and hedges, and improves oxygen levels and air quality.

The fields attract wildlife and advance biodiversity… and you would destroy all of that?

Bob, you and the council need to think again.

Owlthorpe Fields is exactly the sort of site you should be protecting.

You should work with the people here to designate it as a Local Nature Reserve, instead of building on it, so people and our kids can learn about climate change, the environment and biodiversity.

Sheffield Council could then hold it up as a beacon to the rest of the country.

Come on Bob, do the right thing, listen to the people, and protect this important rewilded site.