Sheffield MP Clive Betts claims green belt housing plans set to fail as support drops
“Let’s nip this in the bud now rather than going through this theatre.”
A Sheffield MP has claimed a controversial plan for green belt homes is on a “knife edge” due to wavering support and it was time to “nip it in the bud.”
Clive Betts called for the city council to re-start the Local Plan process because it was unlikely to pass at full council.
The vote has already been moved from July to September and is looking doubtful for the last full council meeting on December 2, he added.
The controversial scheme would see 3,529 homes on 14 green belt sites in Sheffield.
Labour and the Greens support the Local Plan and have 45 seats between them.
Mr Betts said he knew of several who could rebel and vote with the 39 Lib Dems, Reform and independent councillors who are all set to vote against it.
Lord mayor Andrew Sangar - a Lib Dem - had the casting vote.
A Labour-Green power sharing agreement officially collapsed on Monday, November 2.
Mr Betts said: “Let’s nip this in the bud now rather than going through this theatre.
“If it goes to a vote and doesn’t get through, where do we go then? Will the Secretary of State step in and take over?
“I know of Labour and Green councillors who won’t vote for it. It only needs about four and that’s it.”
Mr Betts said under the current proposals nearly half of the green belt homes would be in one “relatively deprived ward” in Handsworth which was “clearly unfair.”
And the affluent wards in the west of the city “had the most green belt to give.”
Last week, Stocksbridge MP Marie Tidball called for the Local Plan process to be “paused” over concerns about 1,500 homes on three plots near Ecclesfield and Grenoside.
In September, city council leader Fran Belbin told the BBC she had written to the government for help.
"Sheffield needs an up-to-date Local Plan," she said.
"Without one, the city has less control over future development and is more vulnerable to speculative applications, including on greenbelt.
"I have written to the government to ask if there is any way we can find a solution.”
Coun Belbin said there was no scope to rewrite the plan unless the council started from scratch, but that would mean even higher housing targets.
She also said they were prevented from going into the Peak District in the west, but they were aware people felt the concentration of green belt home in S35 and S13 was “very unfair.”
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