Next steps for Sheffield local plan revealed amid concerns from green belt housing campaigners
Plans have created a strong campaign to save the city's green space.
Sheffield’s council leader has confirmed the next steps for the city's Local Plan now the recent round of consultation is over.
Leader of Sheffield City Council Fran Belbin told campaigners in the public gallery of a full council meeting that she is “tackling the challenge head on” of trying to find a different outcome.
Under the current draft Local Plan, around 3.5 per cent of Sheffield’s green belt, or 800 acres, is proposed to be developed into 38,000 homes, plus industrial units, schools and cemeteries.
The plans have created a strong campaign to save the city's green space.
Campaigner Cheryl Hall said: "This is arguably the single most important decision on the future of Sheffield as a city for many years.”
Another campaigner, Jo Tunstall, said the plan has been “seemingly driven forward by the time and money already invested” rather than “any confidence in its soundness.”
Gillian Travis spoke on the distribution of green belt proposed for development: "Over 90 per cent of the proposed green belt release is concentrated in two Sheffield postcode areas.
"S35 faces 1,567 additional homes and S13 another 1,697 – effectively adding two new market towns, each comparable in housing scale to Bakewell in Derbyshire."
She also said: “There are no additional healthcare or community facilities specifically allocated in the plan, and the council's own infrastructure evidence anticipates no significant new community facilities.
“Meanwhile, our already overstretched road network is approaching breaking point.”
Coun Belbin said: “Negotiating a more acceptable outcome for the Sheffield Plan is a political challenge, rather than a technical one, and I am tackling that challenge head on.
“I remain focussed on pursuing opportunities in relation to the Local Plan to make the case for an alternative outcome, which recognises the genuine concerns of local communities.”
She explained where the plan currently stands after the ‘further main modifications’ consultation ended on October 28
"The forthcoming Inspectors’ report is the point in the process when legal compliance and soundness will be determined - this will have taken account of all the information that the Inspectors have been provided with from the council, community groups and third parties. "
“If the plan is determined to be sound, the democratically elected members of this council will have the final say on adoption of the plan, including the proposed modifications the Inspectors recommend.”
Coun Belbin said the provision of new community facilities would be considered further at the ‘masterplanning’ stage and when planning applications are submitted.
She rejected claims from campaigners that there had been a lack of transparency, leadership or accountability in the Local Plan process.
She said: "The council has worked hard to rebuild trust with the citizens of Sheffield in the years since the Lowcock Inquiry."
Lowcock found the Sheffield CIty Council displayed a "serious and sustained failure of strategic leadership" following the street trees scandal in the 2010s.
"That trust will never be taken for granted," Coun Belbin said.