Campaign update · 24 August 2026
After Bellway’s consultation at Keresforth Hill Road, Kingstone — what happened, and what we have asked them
Bellway’s public exhibition took place on Thursday 20 August at Shaw Lane Sports Club. It was busy. We counted 98 people through the doors across the three hours — 34, 29 and 35 in each. There was no sign-in sheet, so that count is ours rather than theirs. Thank you to everyone who came, asked questions and reported back; it made a real difference to what we now know.
Bellway Strategic Land, their planning consultants Johnson Mowat, their highways consultant and their architect were all in the room and answered questions for three hours. Their material sets out an outline planning application covering both fields, with the main vehicle access off Keresforth Hill Road, 25% affordable homes in a mix of 2–5 bedroom properties, new pedestrian and cycle connections, the public right of way kept within the layout, areas of open space, and sustainable drainage. Their boards and plans are still available on the developer’s own consultation page — we would encourage you to read them at source.
One thing worth knowing about that 25%. It is presented as a community benefit. But under the national rules the government published in August, a developer releasing Green Belt land for housing is expected to provide a higher proportion of affordable homes than on an ordinary site. For a site like this one, 25% is at or about the level the rules now require — rather than something offered over and above them.
The two things worth knowing from the night
1. Their own timetable does not agree with itself. The printed boards say an application will be submitted “in the coming weeks”. On the night, residents were told there would be another consultation event first, over the winter. Both cannot be right, and we have asked which it is.
2. Nothing is imminent on the ground. Residents were told the site would not be built on for four to five years — worth remembering whenever this scheme is described as an answer to a housing shortage now.
Commenting to Bellway was not the same as objecting to the council. That exhibition was the developer’s own consultation. Anything said there is useful, but it was not a formal objection and it does not go to Barnsley Council. The chance to object properly comes when the application is submitted and validated — and we will tell you exactly when that is, what the reference number is, and how to write an objection that gets taken seriously.
What we have done since. On 24 August we sent twenty-four written questions to Johnson Mowat on behalf of the group. They ask for the things the exhibition did not settle: how many homes are actually proposed and what mix; how the affordable housing would be provided and secured; what the sums offered towards local services and infrastructure were calculated on; what happens to the public right of way; and which timetable is the real one. We have asked for a written reply, and we will publish what we get — including if nothing comes back.
We are not going to pretend a consultation is a decision, and we are not going to overstate what any of this means. What we will do is ask precise questions, publish the answers, and be ready with proper evidence when the application lands.
