‘I don’t take being lied to very well, and nor will our communities. This is not good enough.’
Craig Gamble Pugh, left, has hit out at the council’s green belt development plans(Image: Craig Gamble Pugh)
A Sheffield councillor has hit out at the council over plans to build on the green belt, comparing it to the infamous street trees scandal.
Craig Gamble Pugh, Labour Party Cllr for the East Ecclesfield Ward, said he was lied to by the council after he was told a document relating to a development in his ward did not exist and would not be produced for many years, despite it already existing.
Council-owned Townend Farm is one of 14 green belt sites the council is planning to build on. Its tenant, Adele Riddle, has tearfully campaigned against the plans, claiming she will be made homeless if the land is released to development.
Cllr Pugh claimed Sheffield City Council told him a site plan outlining the decimation of Townend Farm did not exist and would not be produced for several years. However, the document was released late at night at a late stage in the public consultation process. It has left him comparing the green belt development saga to the street trees scandal.
Sheffield residents are protesting against the council’s plans to build on the green belt(Image: Andrew Dowdeswell / YorkshireLive)
“I’ve been beyond frustrated for the past few weeks,” he said. “Despite submitting my objections and requesting to participate in the hearings into the proposed greenbelt development, I have, up till now, not had the opportunity to address the Planning Inspectorate inquiry. I’ve been in correspondence about this for several weeks and am glad to report I’ve now been offered an opportunity to make a statement to the Examination this week. I’ll be outlining some of the many reasons why the proposed Greenbelt sites put forward in Ecclesfield and Chapeltown are unviable.
“I’ve also written to outline my frustration that dozens of additional documents totalling thousands of pages have been released, some late at night, at this late stage of the process. This includes the attached site plan showing a layout for the decimation of Townend Farm- plans I was personally promised did not exist, and would not be produced until years down the line. I don’t take being lied to very well, and nor will our communities. This is not good enough.
“All evidence being relied upon to support the viability of this plan should have been released during the public consultation period so it could be properly scrutinised. This is not the way to treat the public over something which could affect our communities for generations to come, and possibly permanently. I carry some scars from the Sheffield street trees dispute and thought that, after the Lowcock Inquiry into that dark episode, the council should have learned lessons. We can, and must, do better than this.”
In July 2023, the council was forced to apologise for misleading the public in a dispute over felling 17,500 trees, some of which were healthy. An independent inquiry in 2023 found “serious and sustained failure of strategic leadership” at the council. The council issued a further apology in July 2025 to four campaigners for “heavy-handed” legal threats.
The council said the developments build on just 3.6% of green belt land in Sheffield. It claimed it has taken a “brownfield-first” approach to the local plan, with all brownfield sites considered prior to proposing green belt plans.
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