Campaigners say Sheffield Local Plan is "gaslighting" communities amid comparisons to street tree scandal
“Parts of Sheffield should never be required to make disproportionate sacrifices for council failures”
Sheffield’s long-awaited Local Plan, controversial for its proposed development on 327 hectares of green belt, has come under fire during a full council meeting.
Questions and statements were put to the full council chamber on Wednesday (23 September).
“The Local Plan is not only a technical document, it's a social contract,” said Ruth Hubbard, one of Sheffield’s green belt campaigners in a statement on video call.
“It is our council’s fault that Sheffield has had no Local Plan since 2009.
“It should never mean that parts of Sheffield be required to make disproportionate sacrifices for council failures.
“The bunker mentality, tunnel vision on risk, lack of transparency, gaslighting communities, and hiding behind Planning Inspectors is the exact same choreography as the street tree dispute.
“There is no success in getting a revised Local Plan across the line, it is unfit for purpose, if it alienates communities. Many of us tree campaigners know the kind of thing that comes next.”
Ms Hubbard was met with applause from the council chamber and public gallery.
Lynda Jackson said 11 of the 14 proposed green belt allocations are productive farmland or BMV agricultural land.
She asked if the council will maximise available brownfield and public land, such as demolished council housing sites, before relying on green belt release.
Leader of the Council Fran Belbin said: “Any remaining brownfield sites arising from the past demolition of poor-quality council housing over the period 1995 to 2025 have been accounted for.”
Campaigner Jo Tunstall said the public has “repeatedly heard that over 26,000 people are waiting for social housing” and has concerns this the figure is “misleading” evidence of Sheffield’s housing need or justification for green belt release.
She said the council's Housing Allocations Policy explain that people register simply as an insurance policy to build up waiting time, even when they do not currently need council housing.
She also claimed a freedom of information (FOI) request regarding the actual waiting list has taken a year to come back.
Legally, FOI requests should take no more than 20 working days.
Coun Belbin thanked Ms Tunstall for her patience waiting for the FOI and explained the Sheffield Plan housing requirement of 2,236 homes per year on average is based on the local housing need figure for Sheffield.
She said: “The local housing need figure is an unconstrained assessment of the minimum number of homes needed in an area and it is based on the Government’s standard methodology.
"Council housing waiting lists are not used to calculate the local housing need figure.”
Another campaigner, Cheryl Hall said: “I choose to hold the belief that all of you have come into local politics to do good.”
However, she continued: “The responsibility to serve the whole of Sheffield had been forgotten.
“A deep sense of injustice at targeting and building on Sheffield’s Green Belt is driving communities together and pressure will increase.”
Coun Belbin thanked campaigners for their engagement and “for the passion and determination with which you have stood up for your communities.”
However, she emphasised “housing need is real need”.