Yorkshire: Growing threat to green and pleasant spaces

They are some of Yorkshire’s most iconic and beloved green spaces, and have provided rural recreation for generations as well as a vital green lung for nearby rural areas.

However, campaigners fear that some parts of rural West and South Yorkshire are under threat from development by house builders and infrastructure projects, prompting concerns to be raised at the highest level.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England has long been a strident opponent of using the countryside for development and today has published data showing tens of thousands of homes could appear on Yorkshire’s rural landscapes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Based on evidence collated from activists around the country, it has presented a report which it says shows that a sizeable proportion of the 12.4 per cent of England covered by green belt protection is at risk.

Its research shows that among the areas of green belt being considered for development in Yorkshire include sites in Leeds, Bradford, Doncaster, Barnsley and Wakefield.

And while it believes that the Government’s planning reforms will empower local people to keep their green spaces safe, it is concerned about the lack of action being taken on current threats.

It cites the example of Bradford Council having recently approved 1,800 homes for the Holme Wood area, forming part of a new
self-styled “neighbourhood development plan”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Barnsley is another area under the microscope, with plans for 1,200 new homes and 500 acres of warehousing currently being examined by the town’s planners.

A consultation is currently being carried out and “at least some” of the proposed development is to be delivered on green belt land.

The CPRE said: “The recently adopted Core Strategy, by contrast, only allowed green belt land to be released for employment allocations.”

It adds: “In addition Barnsley has significantly increased the amount of green belt land for employment, 360 hectares up to 500 hectares, spread across a number of sites, in particular Goldthorpe and Dearne Valley.”

The consultation for these areas ends on September 28.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Planners in Kirklees are preparing to look at 1,500 dwellings planned for green belt in the Dewsbury area, with examinations set to begin next month.

And a consultation will begin soon on a proposal for nearly 20,000 homes in Leeds.

The city’s council has recently consulted on a new core strategy of its own and a final document is expected to be adopted into policy next year.

It is not just homes that lay threat to green belt areas, according to the CPRE. It warns that the new Finningley and Rossington Regeneration Route Scheme near Doncaster, which was approved in June, will cover 89 hectares of countryside and most of it will fall on green belt.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The plans for a community stadium in Wakefield are also concerning the charity. Given provisional approval in June 2012, the stadium and planned warehousing would sit on 86 hectares of green belt which separates Wakefield from Leeds.

The CPRE alleges that Government is taking a far less active role in ensuring brownfield sites are developed before green belt land, with recent green belt planning sites such as the out of town shopping centre in York having been granted without a public enquiry.

And it fears that a Treasury currently desperate to see growth in the economy, will seek to pursue any option that might bring money into the exchequer.

A Treasury spokeswoman would not be drawn on whether the option was being pursued as Government policy but told the Yorkshire Post: “The Government constantly considers a wide range of measures that can contribute to its key priority of delivering sustainable and balanced growth to understand their impact, and will announce initiatives when decisions have been taken.”