Friends of Kingstone Green Belt
Kingstone · Barnsley · South Yorkshire
A Community Group

Protecting the open countryside of Kingstone.

Friends of Kingstone Green Belt is a group of local residents working to ensure that planning proposals affecting our Green Belt are properly examined, properly evidenced, and properly contested where they should be.

Area
Kingstone, Barnsley
Designation
Metropolitan Green Belt
Founded
May 2026
Land south of Keresforth Hill Road, May 2026
I. What is happening

A national housebuilder is preparing to build on Green Belt land.

Bellway Homes — 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 have been undertaking extensive ground investigations on the site, including borehole drilling, trial pits and ground gas monitoring.

No planning application has yet been submitted. The scale of investment in pre-application technical work, however, strongly suggests that one is being prepared for submission within the coming year.

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.

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.

II. The bigger picture

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.

i
South of Keresforth Hill Road
Bellway Homes · agreement to buy if conditions are met (December 2021) · site investigations underway
around 100 homes · Green Belt
ii
Keresforth Road (west of M1)
Separate proposed scheme · access proposed from Keresforth Road
around 130 homes · former Green Belt
iii
Smithy Wood Gate, Gilroyd
Permission granted · partially built · construction ongoing
around 180 homes · former Green Belt
400
around 400 new homes built, in planning or proposed across three sites in one corridor, sharing the same local infrastructure. This corridor has already absorbed substantial Green Belt release through the 2019 Local Plan — the Bellway site is the one piece of remaining protected Green Belt.
III. What we stand for

We are not opposed to all development. We are for the proper protection of the Green Belt.

Protecting open countryside

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.

Defending public rights of way

The bridleway across the site is a public right of way that passes Keresforth Hall — whose stable block is a Grade II listed building — and is used by walkers and riders from well beyond Kingstone. Its protection, and the setting of the listed building it passes, matter to a wide community.

Proper scrutiny of cumulative impact

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.

Evidence-based engagement

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.

— Latest news

What's been happening with the campaign.

15 May 2026

First press coverage

The Barnsley Chronicle has published a full-column piece on Friends of Kingstone Green Belt and the proposed Bellway Homes development, written by Jack Tolson. The article sets out the campaign's formation, the Green Belt designation of the site, the cumulative position across the corridor, and the group's intention to engage constructively with the planning process when an application is submitted.

Bellway Homes declined to comment. Matt O'Neill, BMBC's Executive Director for Growth and Sustainability, cited the government's national housing target in response.

Barnsley Chronicle clipping with the headline ‘Safeguarded land is being eyed by developers — claim’, by Jack Tolson, 15 May 2026
Barnsley Chronicle · 15 May 2026
IV. What happens next

How a planning application of this kind typically proceeds.

  1. Pre-application investigations
    Where we are now. Borehole drilling, ground gas monitoring, ecological surveys and tree assessments inform the developer's design and risk assessment.
  2. Planning application submitted
    Likely later in 2026 or early 2027. Submission opens a formal public consultation period during which neighbours and members of the public can submit written objections to Barnsley Council.
  3. Consultation & statutory consultees
    Alongside public objections, statutory consultees give formal views — National Highways, the Mining Remediation Authority, Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency, Historic England, and others. Their responses form part of the evidence the council considers.
  4. Officer report & committee decision
    Council planning officers prepare a report assessing the application against national and local planning policy, including a recommendation to approve or refuse. For significant applications, the final decision is taken by the council's planning committee, made up of elected councillors, voting in public. The committee can vote against the officer recommendation.
  5. Appeal — if refused
    A refused developer can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, an independent national body. Beyond that, there are limited further routes through the courts. The local community can also engage at the appeal stage through written representations or, in larger inquiries, in person.
V. Get involved

If you live in Kingstone and could be affected, we want to hear from you.

The more residents who are informed and ready to engage when an application is submitted, the stronger the community's voice will be. There is no fee to join, no commitment required, and no obligation beyond keeping in touch.

Get in touch
[email protected]

We are also happy to hear from journalists, councillors, planning professionals, ecologists or anyone with relevant expertise willing to support the group's work. Please get in touch via the email address above.