Green belt fears ahead of housing plans vote
Plans for up to 1,200 homes and spaces for businesses on green belt land are to be voted on by councillors.
The development in Fellgate had been rejected at a South Tyneside Council planning meeting in October.
But ahead of a meeting on Thursday to decide on the scheme, the council said it fell in line with the government's plans to accelerate housebuilding and make it easier to build on what it describes as "low-quality green belt land".
Opponent Dave Green, from Save the Fellgate Green Belt, said: "We should want to save this beautiful piece of land. Losing this would be extremely detrimental to the area as a whole."
The council claims its Local Plan will provide people with "more access to affordable homes" and keep people in the local area.
Councillor Margaret Meling, member for economic growth and transport, said: "The decision before us is now really quite stark.
"If the current plan is not approved and submitted to the Secretary of State before 12 March, we will have to go back to the drawing board and allocate land for 623 homes a year rather than 309."
The current publication draft of the Local Plan, which has been subject to two statutory public consultations, proposes to remove 5% of land from South Tyneside's green belt, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Nearly 3,000 people have signed a petition in the hopes of blocking plans.
Campaigners argue the road network is not sufficient to support additional housing and the fields play an important role in protecting the neighbourhood from flooding.
Mr Green said: "Congestion is already very bad round here and this would only add to that and this land continuously floods. Even today, there is surface water on the ground.
"This space is essential for people's mental health and wellbeing, people come down here to get away from it and it does mean so much to local residents.
"There are other areas where they could build."
A decision is expected to be made at a council meeting on Thursday.
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