{"id":264814,"date":"2025-07-14T17:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T17:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/264814\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T17:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T17:44:15","slug":"sean-bean-criticises-green-belt-housing-plan-in-area-of-sheffield-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/264814\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Bean criticises green belt housing plan in area of Sheffield"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Seb Cheer<\/p>\n<p>BBC News, Yorkshire<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dkIvM hide-when-no-script\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/50e59660-60c6-11f0-9498-0d711bf93d95.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"PA Media Close-up image of Sean Bean looking into the camera, wearing a dark blue and black tuxedo and black tie.\" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj\"\/>PA Media<\/p>\n<p>Sean Bean said the proposed development would &#8220;devastate the area&#8221; where he grew up<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Actor Sean Bean has said a plan to build homes on green belt land in the area where he grew up would &#8220;practically obliterate the character and nature of our area&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Sheffield City Council approved plans to build more than 1,700 homes in Handsworth as part of the city&#8217;s local plan, which council leader Tom Hunt previously said was needed to &#8220;tackle the housing crisis&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">In an email of objection seen by the BBC, Bafta-winning star Bean said: &#8220;It seems the council sees us as second-class citizens who will just have to put up with it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Sheffield City Council has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Sadie Charlton, a member of a campaign group fighting the plan, said: &#8220;It&#8217;s really boosted our morale and everybody&#8217;s so thankful for him to take the time to put his voice forward because what he says in his objection is how we all feel.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">The 36-year-old occupational therapist contacted Bean following the death of another campaigner, Sapphire McCarthy, who had previously been in touch with him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;He was really interested in keeping in touch about how the campaign is going because obviously he cares about Handsworth,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Bean, 66, who can currently be seen in gritty BBC drama <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/iplayer\/episodes\/m0028mhs\/this-city-is-ours\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 bGFWdi\" rel=\"noopener\">This City Is Ours<\/a>, submitted his objection less than two hours before the end of the consultation period.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">He said: &#8220;It seems like this working-class community and its surrounding areas has been specifically targeted, while other more affluent, genteel areas on the other side of Sheffield have escaped lightly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dkIvM hide-when-no-script\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/9cc39bd0-60a9-11f0-b5c5-012c5796682d.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"BBC\/Tom MacDougall A woman with long ginger hair looks at the camera and smiles. She is wearing a purple jumper and a rucksack. A dog is in the background, standing in a field. It is a sunny day with some cloud in the sky.\" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj\"\/>BBC\/Tom MacDougall<\/p>\n<p>Sadie Charlton said the land was one of the only accessible green spaces used daily by residents in the S13 area<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Ms Charlton added: &#8220;Before 24 April I didn&#8217;t even know what a local plan was, and that really highlights in S13 we&#8217;re not as politically engaged as areas of the west of Sheffield.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">She said the campaign group was now called Save S13 Green Belt &#8211; The Sapphire McCarthy Campaign, in tribute to Ms McCarthy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;Without her, none of this would have happened,&#8221; Ms Charlton said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;Not one person ever met her and didn&#8217;t instantly just love her, and I suspect that Sean felt the same when he had conversations with her.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">She said Bean had first phoned Ms McCarthy when she was shopping at a supermarket, and she told him to call her back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">In his objection email, Bean paid tribute to Ms McCarthy&#8217;s &#8220;valiant and impassioned campaign&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Although the consultation period closed on 11 July, Ms Charlton said the campaign group would &#8220;rally on, carry on forward, get more people involved&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;The community have really rallied around and come together, so this is just the beginning for us,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seb Cheer BBC News, Yorkshire PA Media Sean Bean said the proposed development would &#8220;devastate the area&#8221; where&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,1620,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-264814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-sheffield","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114852834581465499","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}