GOOD NEWS: you now have more time to make your views known about the proposed new township in the heart of the Loxley valley.
You have until Friday 24th July to read the hundreds of pages of documentation and to make your views known to Sheffield City Council planners.
The council has now posted new notification notices around the valley.
We urged them to do this because we were extremely concerned that the original notification period was too short.
We wrote to the council saying that the original notification period did not meet legal requirements.
What are the legal requirements for a major development application?
The application for up to 300 homes on the old Hepworth refractory site is an application for major development.
This means the following legal stipulations apply:
- The application must be accompanied by a Design and Access Statement (DAS). This must be submitted to the planning authority before the planning application can be validated and registered.
- In this case, the application is accompanied by an Environmental Statement. This means people need more time to assess the documentation. So the ‘consulation period’ goes up from 21 days to 30 days.
The application from Patrick Properties was validated and registered before the DAS was submitted. The DAS appeared on the council website on 3rd June.
But the same website records the validation date as 23rd April.
The consultation period was also too short – 21 days rather than the 30 days for an application with an Environmental Statement.
We are pleased and relieved that the deadline has been extended.
The local community now have the time we need to properly assess the huge volume of documentation.
This includes a vitally important Ecology Report that was posted just four days ago on 22nd June.
How to make your views known
Any concerned person has the right to submit views to the planning department up to the date of the final decision, (i.e. the eventual meeting of the Planning and Highways Committee).
But your views will carry most weight if they reach the planning officer before the end of the new consultation period.
This is the date we refer to above, i.e. it ends on Friday 24th July.
Submission by this date means the planning officer must consider your views before preparing the report that they will submit to councillors.
If you have already submitted your views, you do have the right to post additional comments after reading the new documentation.
You can submit your views by posting them on the city council ‘planning portal’:
Many of you have told us that you have struggled to connect to the planning portal despite repeated attempts.
In this case, you also have the right to submit your comments by email, quoting planning application reference number 20/01301/OUT
This is the email address for comments: planningapps@sheffield.gov.uk
If you continue to have difficulties submitting your views, please let us know.
However you decide to do it, please do make your views known. Every local opinion counts!
I have already submitted an email outlining my concerns on the 07/06/2020, as of yet I have received no acknowledgement from Sheffield City Council. I understand that the original proposal wasn’t lawfully submitted and signage had to re displayed around the proposed site.
Why spoil this beautiful valley when there are lots of other places you can use.