Stand up for Sheffield’s green belt – and its wildlife
You may have heard that Sheffield is often touted as England’s greenest city. Although formerly a steel urban city, it has huge swathes of beautiful green space. You are never short of going for a lovely walk.
Save Sheffield’s Green Belt is an urgent campaign to stop this beautiful land being decimated. Yes we need more affordable homes, but not at the expense of green belt land and wildlife habitats.
There is enough urban wasteland to build on instead. Or even knocking down obsolete dangerous buildings, and building on them instead.
What is Sheffield’s Green Belt?
In a city around the same size as Portland (Oregon) which looks after all its green space, Sheffield’s Green Belt covers around 22,400 acres.
The current plans for not just homes plus multiple commercial units (which are not needed) would remove around 800 acres of wildlife land, that once removed, would never come back.
Locals are campaigning against this, saying it will send local species extinct. And bring more pollution and traffic into the city, with more commercial shopping centres.
New homes don’t have to destroy wildlife
The idea that greenbelt land has to be destroyed to build new homes is completely wrong. And the people who make these decisions should be working with experts, not politicians, to find alternative solutions.
For instance, The Wildlife Trusts has lots of advice for planners and campaigners, they are experts in knowing how to work with builders to build homes, while still protecting our native wildlife. So why do the people who are destroying green land never contact them?
You can help by writing to your MP and signing national petitions.
Controversy over Green Party support
Just like in another city when a Green Party helped to knock down a vertical living wall for birds (to build a cycle path), some Greens are supporting the project, saying it will bring better housing and public transport. But Greens are supposed to always put the planet on at least an even keel.
Not so long ago, Sheffield was celebrating its Street Trees program. Yet the proposed development (which will destroy trees, ancient hedgerows and lots of endangered wildlife) will do the opposite.
The campaign has a strong local campaigner in the form of actor Sean Bean. He has already donated to the campaign, to save the area he grew up in. Another 4000 people have already jointed up. Sean says:
We mean business. We’re not going to let it go like that.
Why is Green Belt land so important?
Sheffield’s Green Belt is much more than empty land waiting to be built on. It provides a home for hedgehogs, foxes, badgers, bats, birds, insects and countless other species. These habitats form part of a wider natural network, allowing animals to find food, shelter and places to raise their young. When green spaces disappear, wildlife loses the places it needs to survive.
The Green Belt also matters to people. Open countryside gives residents somewhere to walk, exercise, relax and enjoy nature. Trees and plants help improve air quality, absorb carbon and reduce the effects of flooding. Green spaces can also support our mental and physical wellbeing, giving us a chance to escape the noise and pressures of everyday life.
Development can have a lasting impact. Building new roads, houses and other infrastructure can destroy habitats and divide them into smaller areas.
Even when individual animals are protected, the gradual loss of connected habitats can make it harder for wildlife populations to thrive. Once a meadow, woodland or hedgerow has been built over, it can be extremely difficult to replace what has been lost.
That is why protecting Sheffield’s Green Belt should matter to all of us.
