Sean Bean explains his opposition to plans to build on Sheffield greenbelt. Video: Lauren Hague and Cheryl Hague

The Star, Sheffield

Transcript

00:00Hiya, I'm Lauren Hague and we're here with film star Sean Bean to talk about the S13

00:05Greenbelt.

00:06So what do you think to the working class community coming together to fight this and

00:10how they've sought legal advice and raised £10,000 together.

00:15They still need to raise another £25,000 and have lots of ongoing fundraising projects

00:20to raise the rest of the money to pay for barristers and planners and in such a short

00:25space of time too, only four months for them to come up with that, what do you think to it?

00:30Yeah, it's quite incredible to, like, within four months that we've come up with barristers,

00:37I've got it here, planning consultants, hundreds of objections, despite not much help from the

00:45council, no help from the council apart from Clive Betts. We've got four thousand signatures,

00:52you know, so it's incredible how they've kind of brought themselves together, how they've

01:02managed to get all this kind of armour, as it were, around them within such a short space

01:09of time, which kind of means we, you know, they mean business, we mean business, you know,

01:13we're not going to let it go like that. And I think you can see just by the people that are

01:18around and how professionally it's been handled and how passionately that, you know, we're not going

01:26to stop and we'll see this through. So you were brought up in Handsworth and are still very proud

01:33of your roots. Tell us why the Greenbelt means so much to you. Greenbelt means a lot to me because

01:39I grew up all around that area and so did all my friends from school and all the families that we knew

01:45were around the area and that were the kind of hub, that were the kind of, you know, that was the

01:50centre of where we explored the countryside and we had a laugh and we played games and, you know,

01:58we all met up and, you know, it's the only bit of greenery really around that area and so it was a

02:07magnet for young kids and growing homes and wildlife and they had a youth club there at the time but it

02:14was all part of the community and that's why it's so essential to retain it and I suppose it would be

02:22a tragedy if that were all built over. It's been such a many years that it served the people and the

02:29community of Handsworth and surrounding areas so it would be devastating if we lost it. So what do

02:37you think of the council's decision to offer up almost 90% of Handsworth's Greenbelt to developers?

02:44When I heard that they were deciding to offer up 90% of Greenbelt land to developers I mean I think

02:55we were all pretty shocked and because it means so much to us that area um people of all ages young

03:05and old you know it's such a tradition and history and it it would be devastating if that was lost there

03:12would be no uh I don't know you've got to have greenery you've got it's a calming influence it's

03:18it's good for your health it's good for your mind and uh we don't realize how good it was

03:25until it's gone I know how good it was for me and it was a massive part of my life growing up and uh

03:30in and around the area not just passing through it but being in it all the time with my friends

03:36and meeting and you know it was such a you know it was the it was a center of uh you know how we grew

03:45up and how we how we viewed things you know people think like you grew up in an area with with houses and

03:51that but you if you haven't got that you know that that that space in between you know mentally and

03:58psychologically it's quite damaging not to have that around you uh because you've become insulated

04:05and and and blinkered and and and very claustrophobic you don't even realize it's happening

04:11as i said until it's gone and i think it's so important for us and and that

04:16you know apart from all the the the logistic difficulties and the and the drawbacks that

04:23they had i mean there's a there's a flood risk there's uh uh it's common land it's the people's

04:30land you know i mean the council own it they're just gonna flog it keep the money and then it'll be

04:38gone they'll you know they'll have a bit of money in their pockets but we'll we won't have anything and

04:43it's uh you know it's like something like wimbledon common are you so many commons in london that's

04:47why they have them central park in america you've got a massive park in the middle of all those

04:53skyscrapers and buildings because it's good for the mind it's good for the health it's good for

04:58everything you can't just take take those kind of things away and if they do then it would be

05:04it would be it would be shocking for so so many people there's plenty of other places to build you

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