Bellway have announced plans to build on Kingstone’s Green Belt.
Bellway Strategic Land — part of Bellway, one of the UK's largest housebuilders — has held an agreement to buy land south of Keresforth Hill Road, Barnsley, subject to conditions, since December 2021. Bellway are not the current owner; they would buy the land from the current owner if the conditions in their agreement are met. Through the spring of 2026 their contractors undertook extensive ground investigations on the site — borehole drilling, trial pits and ground gas monitoring.
In August 2026 they went public: a published notice of their intention to submit an outline planning application, an illustrative masterplan covering both fields, a consultation leaflet through local letterboxes, and a public exhibition on 20 August. No planning application has yet been submitted — but one is now clearly coming.
The site is crossed by a well-used bridleway — a public right of way that passes the Grade II listed stable block to Keresforth Hall and draws walkers and riders from well beyond the immediate area. It connects to a wider network of paths through the historic countryside south of Barnsley.
The land in question has been designated Green Belt for many decades. Under national planning policy, most development on Green Belt is automatically classed as "inappropriate" and should be refused unless the developer can demonstrate "very special circumstances" — a deliberately high bar.
Friends of Kingstone Green Belt has been formed by local residents who intend to engage constructively and properly with the planning process when an application is submitted, and to make sure the public interest is properly represented.
Where it is
The site sits on the southern edge of Kingstone — bordered by existing housing, two schools and the fire station to the north, and open countryside and the historic Keresforth Hall estate to the south.
What we are protecting
This is the open countryside in question. Working farmland on the southern edge of Kingstone, designated Green Belt for decades and crossed by a public bridleway. Every photograph here was taken by people who live here.
A third major housing scheme. The same small corridor.
The Keresforth Hill Road site is not being proposed in isolation. Two further housing schemes are advancing on nearby land released from the Green Belt through the 2019 Local Plan — one already under construction, the other in planning. All three sites share the same road network, schools, GP surgeries and emergency service provision.
Bellway’s consultation, and what we did
- Wed 7 OctoberBarnsley Council’s Cabinet is due to consider the review of the Local Plan — the document that decides which land is protected and which is released. Meetings of Cabinet are held in public.
- Not yet knownThe planning application itself. Nothing has been submitted, and Bellway have now told us that “no fixed date has been set” and that the reference on Board 1 to an application “in the coming weeks” “should not be treated as a confirmed programme”. They have not yet decided whether it will be a full or an outline application.
- When it landsThe formal objection period. This is the one that counts, and we will publish the reference number, the deadline and how to write an objection that carries weight.
Read the full report: the exhibition, what they told us, and what we did
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.
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.
What we have done since. On 24 August we sent twenty-four written questions to Johnson Mowat on behalf of the group, and on 8 September we wrote again asking them to confirm the closing date. They replied in full on 9 September. We said at the time that we would publish what came back, including if nothing did. It is set out below, in their words. We have also met the council’s Head of Planning, on 1 September, and our Member of Parliament has replied to the group.
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.
Bellway’s answers to our 24 questions
On 24 August we put twenty-four written questions to Bellway’s planning consultants, and said we would publish what came back. They replied in full on 9 September. This is the substance of it, in their words. Tap a question to read their answer.
We are not opposed to all development. We are for the proper protection of the Green Belt.
The Green Belt around Kingstone exists to safeguard countryside from encroachment and to keep land permanently open. This is what national planning policy was designed to defend.
The bridleway across the site is a public right of way used by walkers and riders from well beyond Kingstone. It forms part of a historic approach past Keresforth Hall, whose stable block is a Grade II listed building. The route itself, and its long-standing relationship to the hall and the countryside around it, matter to a wide community.
When multiple sites are proposed in one corridor, the combined effect on roads, schools, GP capacity and emergency services must be properly assessed — not considered in isolation.
We are building a careful evidence base on every relevant material consideration so that our engagement with the planning process is credible, accurate and effective.