Fencing off a strip of land in front of the Coach House in a quiet Sheffield suburb sparks objections

Locals have hit out at a proposal to build a stone wall and a fence around parts of a green verge in front of the Coach House in Sheffield as they say dog walking space will be lost.

Sheffield City Council’s planning and highways committee will have to decide whether to accept an application for the use of a strip of land as part of residential curtilage for the Coach House on Dobbin Hill with associated landscaping including the building of a boundary wall and estate fencing, as well as soft landscaping.

A document said that the plan includes the stone wall being built around 75 per cent of the grass verge that houses a lamppost, bollards, street sign and public bin to the southern end.

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The grass verge measures three metres in width at its widest point and 18 metres in length from the dwellinghouse narrowing to the highway junction.

If successful, the remaining 25 per cent of the area (closest to the road junction) would be left open.

The application received 32 letters of which 29 were against it – including one from Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in Sheffield.

Objectors told officers that among the main issues with the application were the loss of space for dog walking, the loss of a bin and the loss of open feel.

Also, they added parking was an issue on the road and this would create a “negative impact visibility”.

The residents who supported the proposal, however, said the development would help change the area which they described as an “eyesore”.

The proposal is recommended for approval and it will be discussed at next week’s (March 5) meeting at Sheffield Town Hall.