Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) South Yorkshire
protecting the countryside - for the nation, for the future

'Brownfield' not 'Greenfield'

In March 2000 the whole CPRE network welcomed the Government's new Planning Policy Guidance Note 3 (PPG3) which radically changed planning for new housing provision. The new policy, which owes much to CPRE's persistent lobbying over many years, provides for the use of urban 'brownfield' sites before green fields and improves the quality of new housing development. The challenge for us has been to persuade planning authorities to apply the new policy to their existing plans. It is important that this is done speedily because there is a danger that developers will grab easily developed green field housing allocations before these are withdrawn from the local plans.

We have already challenged two major housing developments at Buxton and Thorpe Hesley, Rotherham. At the Buxton Waterswallows Road development an area of traditional strip fields on the outskirts of town would be destroyed to make way for 330 houses and a chunk would be cut out of Fairfield Common for a new roundabout and link road.

At Thorpe Hesley the proposals were for nearly 1200 houses on green fields around motorway junction 35. It is difficult to argue that South Yorkshire is short of brownfield sites for house-building and - given the M1's congestion and pollution problems - even more difficult to justify encouraging an extra 1200+ motorway commuters! The long-awaited decision on the proposed development on the rolling hills and fields at Thorpe Hesley was finally received in October 2001 and we were delighted that the proposals were rejected! It was a great success for the Thorpe Hesley Residents Group and CPRE's Sprawl Patrol Campaign that aims to prevent inappropriate development on 'greenfield' land and encourages planning authorities to look at 'brownfield' sites first.

CPRE's campaign to stop a housing estate being built at an isolated site in the Barnsley Green Belt at Carr House Farm, Howbrook (pictured top left) met with success in January 2003. The proposals were in direct conflict with government guidance PPG3 that prioritises previously developed "brownfield" sites for development before building on greenfield land.

During April 2002 CPRE commented on the High Peak Local Plan Review and despite supporting many policies designed to protect the countryside, CPRE requested that several inappropriate housing allocations in the countryside be removed from the Plan. Our top priorities were Otterhole Farm and Foxlow Farm. We made several appearances at the Local Plan Inquiry in December 2003 which ended in January 2004. The Branch was successful in defending greenfield land at Foxlow Farm but the long fight to protect land at Otterhole Farm continued into 2005 and was eventually lost. CPRE was also pleasantly surprised to learn in November 2004 that in areas beyond Buxton, the new High Peak Local Plan will not allow ANY housing ANYWHERE unless it is affordable; part of a redevelopment scheme or will restore a listed building. We were also delighted to see that restoration of the historic Wrens Nest Mill in Glossop town centre for housing is now under way.

There is a related, but trickier, problem surrounding the definition of previously developed or 'brownfield' land. Two centuries ago industrial activity was clustered in the Pennine valleys of South Yorkshire. Although the valleys are now predominantly wooded and used for recreation, some of the industrial sites were still in use until the twentieth century and the remnants are still apparent although they are rapidly being overtaken by nature. Although the Loxley Valley is part of Sheffield's Green Belt, the Wisewood Forge area was treated as a brownfield site and therefore available for development. Permission to build on the site was granted two years ago but in 2000 we helped resist an application for more extensive and intrusive development. 2007 still sees the Hepworth's site under threat from a proposal by Bovis Homes Ltd. The proposal is completely unsustainable, as it will create a virtual new township in the Green Belt.

CPRE would like to see the development of more appropriate 'brownfield' sites within urban areas as part of a planned and imaginative urban renaissance. This will help protect the countryside from further encroachment as more and more people seek the benefits of 'city living'.

Picture top left: Carr House Farm, Howbrook