A COMMUNITY group, thought to be the first of its kind in Barnsley, has been established to try to fight plans to put an estate of 50 new homes on a village green belt site.
Barnsley Council has drawn the site, off Moor End Lane, Silkstone Common, into its plans for long-term housing development in the district after previously ruling out large developments in the borough’s smaller villages.
The local authority has been forced to respond to direction from a government planning inspector, who is currently scrutinising its plans to make sure enough development land is available to meet housing needs into the 2030s.
She questioned the council’s calculations over housing needs, suggesting that more homes were needed and indicated they should also allocate some sites in villages rather than concentrating on urban centres.
As a result, the Silkstone Common site is one of ten village locations now being suggested for development but residents are planning to fight back.
A group of residents are now planning to put their own money into getting professional advice on how they can challenge the council’s proposal - which has still to undergo consultation and a further examination by the inspector before it could be adopted by the council.
Their aim is to use that information to help residents who want to make comment on the council’s plans to construct their letters, with the expectation of a public meeting at some point in the future to offer that help.
But they also intend to share the professional guidance they get with other villages in the district, which are also facing the prospect of similar developments.
That could provide a boost to any residents in villages including Oxspring, Thurgoland and Cawthorne who object to council plans for new homes there, by providing professional guidance they would otherwise not have to help guide their own feedback to council consultations.
Coun Dave Griffin, who lives in the area but represents the Penistone West ward, said the community group would be expecting to send leaflets to homes in the area, explaining what the development could mean.
“We are taking advice on the topics which should into the responses (to council consultation). We are paying for that,” he said.
“We will then share the advice, to help villagers respond individually. We are going to have a community meeting, with a workshop to help people write their letters.
“What we would really like to do is share our experience with other villages. We feel we would be stronger if all the villages were together,” he said.
Projections for numbers of new homes the area needs were worked out in conjunction with expectations for the numbers of new jobs expected to be created in the years ahead.
Numbers of jobs expected to be created have now been scaled back, which means projected numbers of new houses have also been recalculated.
Under the formula used by the inspector, numbers required are still higher than original council calculations, however, meaning new sites have had to be found.
In addition to the village locations, which also include a large site near Great Houghton, a large site that falls within ‘urban Barnsley’ at Staincross has also been earmarked for housing.
