Plans for 900 homes to be built on green belt land

Plans to build up to 900 homes on a controversial green belt site which residents are fighting to save have been submitted to a council.

The new estate - called Orgreave Park - could be built at Handsworth Hall Farm, next to Waverley Advanced Manufacturing Park.

Handsworth Farm Partnership intend to submit an outline planning application but in the first instance have provided a 112-page environmental impact assessment.

The developer said design work was ongoing but it would be a mixed-use development including space for business use on the border of Sheffield and Rotherham.

The land is one of 14 green belt sites which Sheffield City Council has earmarked for development, prompting thousands of protests from residents.

Savills, on behalf of the developers, said in the report: "The proposed development is phased delivery of up to 900 residential dwellings with employment land.

"Primary access would be from Orgreave Lane with extensive green infrastructure and open space."

The site is around 150 acres of working arable farmland and is split in two through a line of hedgerows. There are small areas of woodland, which are designated as local wildlife sites.

The Local Plan, which is a blueprint for how the city will develop over the next 15 years, has earmarked 14 greenbelt sites in the city for development.

Around 3,530 homes, cemeteries and schools would be build on the sites but residents are angry that the majority of the development is in the S13 and S35 postcodes.

Campaigners from the Save S13 Green Belt group recently met with Labour and Green councillors at the site, as both parties had voted in favour of the Local Plan.

"It is difficult to picture the scale of this site from a map. The only proposed access is onto Orgreave Lane, a minor B road, along roughly 150m of frontage," the group said in a statement.

"Waverley's existing 2,000 homes sit across the railway line, with a further 2,000 still to come [in the S13 postcode].

"We chose a vantage point where the councillors could see its scale and how close it is to the site we were standing on.

"The two parties have now stood on Handsworth Hall Farm and seen its scale, how it is used and heard from residents directly."

Labour council leader Fran Belbin said: "There remains a real risk that rejecting the plan would lead to a new, higher housing target being imposed that would require the inclusion of even more greenbelt land."

Green Party leader Angela Argenzio said: "A new Local Plan is essential to stop substandard planning applications being approved. Building housing for city centre living is a better way and we are content the majority of new building will be in the central area."

Inspectors have said the draft Local Plan is "sound" but are yet to give their final report on the full and final version. It will then need to be accepted in a vote at full council.

Meanwhile, planning officers are considering the Handsworth Hall Farm environmental impact assessment.

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North