Sheffield green belt protestors say "no one is stepping back from this fight"
“The impact on particular areas of the city would be devastating”
Sheffield's green belt campaigners gathered outside the town hall yesterday to voice their concerns at the council's plan to develop on more than 300 hectares of green space.
"Can the plan Fran!" shouted Jo Tunstall through a megaphone in the lead up to a full Sheffield City Council meeting on Wednesday (September 23).
Her comment was aimed at Sheffield City Council leader Fran Belbin.
She stood to protest against the 14 proposed greenbelt sites made up of 3,500 homes and four industrial warehousing sites.
She said the sites threaten productive food producing farmland, ancient hedgerows, woodland and local wildlife sites
"We don't believe they need to do that. We believe there are more than enough brownfield sites.
"Sheffield hasn't done a call for sites for seven years. They're claiming brownfield is exhausted but how will you know if you've not asked for seven years?"
She said after recent engagement from councillors visiting the sites including leader Fran Belbin, she hopes they will "inform themselves and actually see first hand the devastation in the communities, to be as well informed as they can before the next vote.
"We'd like to think they're listening. Time will tell."
Lynda Jackson has been campaigning to save Sheffield's green belt for the past 19 months.
She is particularly concerned about proposals to develop on Hesley Wood, a coal spoil heap situated within 30-40 metres of houses.
She said the amount of contaminants there is "absolutely frightening," and said after this was revealed by a previous planning application, the council themselves said it shouldn't be disturbed.
She compared the proposal to the controversial Astley warehouses in Manchester which were built behind residents' back gardens and said: "It's a disgrace and we don't need it."
A campaigner from the north Sheffield group, Cheryl Hall said: "There is no need for housing on the green belt. Sheffield has sufficient brown belt to be able to take that housing on board.
She said green belt development is only justifiable in exceptional circumstances and Sheffield is "nowhere near that".
"The Sheffield plan and the way it affects specific areas is so totally unjust and so obviously unfair.
"Its impact on particular areas of the city is going to be devastating if it went ahead.
"None of us are prepared to step back, we're absolutely fired up. Believe me no one is stepping back from this fight."