Further Main Modifications: comment by 5pm, 28 October
The proposals to develop Handsworth Hall Farm (SES29) and Bramley Common (SES30) remain under examination.
The Council has published 33 further changes to the Sheffield Plan, alongside eight new evidence documents. Residents can now comment on how these Further Main Modifications (FMMs) and the new evidence affect our local Green Belt sites.
Our guide to commenting, promised in our last email on 19 September, is ready. It focuses on four topics: wildlife, local traffic, farmland and the Quaker burial ground. For each, it explains what is new, why it matters and how to respond.
The campaign team is making the detailed planning case, but residents can contribute something different: first-hand knowledge of the fields, their wildlife and the surrounding roads. You do not need to be a planning expert. Choose a topic you know, use the guide's suggested wording and add three or four sentences about what you have seen, where and when.
The deadline is 5pm on Wednesday 28 October.
How to respond
- Open the guide and choose a topic you know.
- Copy the suggested comment and replace the words in square brackets with what you have seen, where and when.
- Email it to [email protected]. Put the reference number from the guide in the subject line, for example Further Main Modifications: EXAM 221, and end with your full name.
Each suggested comment says what you are commenting on, what you have seen, why you think the proposed change or new evidence does not adequately address your concern, and what you want the Inspectors to do. The guide has wording for all of it except what you have seen. That part is yours.
Send one email per topic. Keep to the new changes and evidence, rather than repeating earlier objections. Your name will be published with your comment.
If you need help, email us at [email protected].
The four topics
- Wildlife (SES29 and SES30).
Tell the Inspectors what you have seen in the fields, hedgerows, wildlife corridors and beck. FMM16 would make the protection given to priority habitats depend on survey evidence for each site. But for SES30, the Council's ecology report records one walkover survey, in July 2025. For SES29, the only ecology evidence we have seen dates from December 2023, before Handsworth Beck was dug out in September. If you knew the beck before then, say what lived there. Reference: FMM5 and FMM16.
- Local traffic (SES29).
Tell the Inspectors about the traffic on Orgreave Lane and the roads around it, particularly since the new Lidl was built on Rotherham Road. A new roundabout off Orgreave Lane is proposed as access to SES29. The Council's transport study tested 56 junctions across the city, none of them on Orgreave Lane. Reference: EXAM 221.
- The farmland (SES29 and SES30).
Tell the Inspectors what crops you have seen grown or harvested. The Council's updated map data suggests both sites have better farmland than was first assumed, yet it still concludes that the sites proposed for development "remain appropriate". Argue that land that has already been built on should be developed before our “best and most versatile” farmland. Reference: EXAM 219.
- The Quaker burial ground (SES30).
Tell the Inspectors what you know of the Quaker burial ground at Cinder Hill Green, on the eastern boundary of SES30. The Council now accepts that the surrounding landscape and its relationship with the burial ground "may be affected". Reference: EXAM 222.
This is the fourth consultation on the Plan we’ve asked for your help with, and we know it asks a lot. If you only have time for one topic, choose the one you know best.
If you are not sure which to choose, start with traffic. Most people use the local roads and know of the local traffic problems, and the Inspectors asked the Council to let the public comment on the new SES29 access evidence (EXAM 217C, paragraph 10).
What we are doing
The campaign team is preparing a community representation for S13. The Sheffield Green Belt Alliance is preparing its own, with James Bailey Planning Limited.
Those responses will make the planning case. They cannot replace what you have seen on these sites, and the Inspectors must consider every representation they receive.
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What you can do
Send your comment by 5pm on Wednesday 28 October.
Forward this email to neighbours, and to anyone who uses these fields or drives on our local roads.
Share the guide in local WhatsApp and Facebook groups: saves13greenbelt.org.uk/further-main-modifications-guide
Want the background? Read What are the Further Main Modifications? on the website.
We will send a reminder before the deadline. If you need help, email us at [email protected].
-The Save S13 Green Belt Campaign
