Green belt campaigners vow to oppose stadium

OPPOSITION to the new stadium development has begun to stir, even though planning permission is still some way off.Independent green belt campaigner Michael Sylvester, from Kimberworth, has vowed to oppose the plans as he believes that land-strapped Rother
OPPOSITION to the new stadium development has begun to stir, even though planning permission is still some way off.

Independent green belt campaigner Michael Sylvester, from Kimberworth, has vowed to oppose the plans as he believes that land-strapped Rotherham Borough Council should have commandeered the former Guest and Chrimes Forge site for housing.

Last summer, the authority announced plans to dig up thousands of acres of the borough’s green belt land and build up to 34,000 new homes by 2026.

The proposals, which include parts of Rawmarsh, Greasbrough, Bramley, Ravenfield, North Anston and Dinnington, prompted heated public meetings and saw council leaders booed and jeered for planning to build on Rotherham’s countryside.

Now Mr Sylvester has criticised the borough council for putting Rotherham United’s needs ahead of the borough’s housing demands.

“An authority which is so short of land that it has to look at digging up the green belt should be using brown field sites like this for housing,” said the campaigner.

“The council have spent months looking at brown field sites for the new stadium rather than committing the same resources to the search for alternatives to the green belt for housing.”

Mr Sylvester also attacked plans to hand over the Forty Martyrs playing fields off Roughwood Road, Wingfield, for a new training facility.

He said: “Plans to virtually give Forty Martyrs playing fields at Wingfield to the Millers are not acceptable.

“We are now being asked to give up our playing fields and countryside for the greater good of the town and the Millers.

“I'm sorry but that is an unacceptable burden for this community to share.”