Minister rebuffs Sheffield MP Marie Tidball's call for 'pause' in green belt homes plan
“It is for the independent inspectors to consider the responses to the consultations and set out next steps”
An MP who called for Sheffield’s Local Plan to be “paused” has been rebuffed by a government minister.
Marie Tidball, Penistone and Stocksbridge MP, asked the minister for housing to meet her to discuss halting plans for thousands of homes in green belt.
Speaking in the House of Commons, she said new evidence showed the proposed plots in her constituency were “our best agricultural land.”
But Matthew Pennycook MP, minister for housing and planning, said he was unable to meet her and it was up to the inspectors from the Planning Inspectorate to decide “next steps.”
He said: “Due to my quasi-judicial role in the planning system I can’t comment on the detail of the emerging plan and I’m afraid I can’t meet her to discuss it.
“The Plan, the sites within it and the main modifications have been subject to several rounds of consultations.
“It is for the independent inspectors to consider the responses to the consultations and set out next steps.”
The Local Plan is a blueprint for 38,000 new homes and 654 acres of employment land in Sheffield over the next 13 years.
It includes controversial proposals for 3,529 homes on 14 green belt sites.
Last week, Ms Tidball said she had formally submitted opposition to the use of three plots near Ecclesfield and Grenoside which have been earmarked for around 1,500 homes.
And she was calling for a “pause” to the process because “too many of the homes in this plan are in the wrong places.”