Council meets action group

A CAMPAIGN group set up to prevent building on greenbelt land have welcomed a meeting it had with council leaders.

The Save Our Greenbelt action group met Rotherham Council to discuss the concerns it has about building on greenbelt land.

The action group is fighting moves to build 1,100 new homes in the area between now and 2026.

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Action group member Diane Walker said the group ‘was getting there’ following the meeting with council leader Coun Roger Stone and chief executive Martin Kimber.

Among the principles discussed were no building on greenbelt until all brownfield sites are developed on and brownfield maximised; where building on greenbelt cannot be avoided at any costs, preference should be given to scrub or grassland avoiding recreational areas; no unnecessary building of factory units until vacant ones are utilised and at least 25 per cent of new buildings be categorised as affordable or social until the lack of housing in the borough has been eased and priority given to Rotherham borough residents when allocating them.

A Rotherham Council spokesman said the meeting was very constructive as it allowed the authority to emphasise that these principles had been adopted from the start of the Local Development Framework process.

She said: “Although we cannot give absolute guarantees, we do agree with the group in many of their views. It has us given some excellent feedback from the people of Dinnington over their concerns and moves us towards identifying which sites they feel are most suitable for development, which was the whole purpose of the consultation.”

“We have also agreed to further dialogue with the group so we can use their views when we finally draft the LDF.”