Green belt protesters from around Sheffield have joined forces to try and prevent the city sprawling into undeveloped land. 

The S35 green belt action group announced their plans to join up with other groups around the city during a protest outside Sheffield Town Hall on 4 March. 

The groups, representing  S35, S13, S12, Lodge Moor, and other unofficial groups have now come together under the banner of The Sheffield Green Belt Alliance.

The protestors repeatedly shouted ‘save our green belt’ and ‘shame on The Greens’ before the council meeting. 

Protestors then attended a meeting at Sheffield City Council where they put their concerns to councillors

Lynda Jackson, who attended the meeting, said: ”Residents are anxious about already overstretched local services, the risk of flooded homes, farmers facing the loss of their livelihoods.

“They’re worried about constant noise from monstrous warehouses, about night skies with permanent glare, and about dangerous air contamination.”

S35 has been affected the most by the council’s plans as the postcode contains nine out the 14 proposed development sites. 

This is where 70% of the proposed land for warehouses and businesses are set to be, along with 40% of the homes that are going to be built. 

Ecclesfield Secondary School is next door to one of the proposed green belt sites and, at a meeting in the local area, members of the action group voiced their concerns about the health and safety of the children.

Green belt representative Jo Tunstall talked about the increase in HGVs near the school as well as more general traffic, saying ‘air pollution doesn’t stop at boundaries’.

The group is calling for people to help identify vacant, underused or previously developed land, or ‘brown belt’ land so that their green belt land is kept safe. 

During the protest the group shone a light on members of the Green Party, who they said have previously supported plans to build on green belt land. 

The Sheffield Green Belt Alliance said their next move is to combine their resources and funds to help save their green belts.