MP joins fight against 'unfair' housing plans

Residents Cheryl Hague and Sadie Charlton are objecting to Sheffield Council's housing plans

An MP has called on councillors to rethink plans to build more than 1,700 homes in one neighbourhood, saying it is "not fair".

Sheffield City Council approved plans for 3,500 new houses last month, as well as schools, cemeteries and industrial units on 14 green belt sites across the city.

Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts said the proposals would see 44% of the new homes built in Handsworth, putting undue strain on local services.

He said: "My constituents are not NIMBYs, but they do have a clear sense of fairness, and this current proposal is not fair."

Clive Betts says the Handsworth area is already "stretched" in terms of infrastructure and services

Under the council's local plan, 870 homes are planned for Handsworth Hall Farm with a further 868 homes, a secondary school and a multi-faith burial site planned for land between Bramley Lane and Beaver Hill Road.

Betts has joined hundreds of residents objecting to the scheme and has written to the planning inspector.

He said: "Under the present proposals 44% of all new housing development is not just in one constituency or ward, but one community - Handsworth.

"The idea that one area can take this level of housing on green belt while others take none is simply not fair.

"We absolutely need to be ambitious and hit the housing target to deal with the crippling housing crisis we are in, but this way of going about it just places the greatest burden on an area that has already been stretched in terms of infrastructure and services."

The Labour MP has called on landowners and developers to come forward with sites so there can be a fairer distribution of housing across the city.

People living in Handsworth have also called the proposals unfair.

Cheryl Hague said: "People love coming here, we have fields, nature and historic bluebell woodland. It's where people come for mental wellbeing and it's in the middle of three major communities so it's very well used.

"The plans are really unfair. We do understand the need for new homes, but we don't think it's fair to dump half of them in our area. This is our Peak District."

Sadie Charlton said residents were angry at the lack of information from the council.

"We are not arguing against the need for new housing in the city, what everybody is an uproar about is that this Local Plan seems to have come out of the blue for a lot of us, especially as two major developments are within a one mile radius of each other," she said.

"These plans will mean that's pretty much all of our green belt is gone. Already, our infrastructure is at capacity and we haven't been given any reassurances to how this is going to be updated."

Sheffield City Council declined to comment but councillors looked at public transport, infrastructure and site availability alongside a wide variety of other factors when considering which sites should be proposed.

A public consultation on the plans is due to close on 11 July and all responses will then be passed to government inspectors for them to review and assess.

A further series of public hearings will be held by the inspectors later in 2025 to review the results of the consultation.

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