Popular ‘dog exercise park’ in green belt area ordered to close down despite 134 dog owners in favour

Sheffield City Council planning committee meeting today (September 13) heard from Mick Hill, whose application for use of his land opposite Holme Head Wheel Dam on Rivelin Valley Road was unanimously rejected by councilors.

His application for planning permission was supported by 134 dog walkers but members of the committee decided it was in the wrong place and would create too much impact on a high-quality landscape in the green belt.

Mr Hill explained that dog walkers passing by had approached him as he worked on building stables for rescue donkeys. He got permission for that last year.

They saw fencing around one field he had enclosed so his three dogs could run around and asked if they could use it too, so he started charging a £10 an hour hire fee.

Council officers visited to tell him that he needed planning permission first, so he put in an application for a fenced-off area, a wooden shelter for bad weather and parking in front of the stables.

He said: “The only thing I’ve done on that field is what people asked me to do.

“People kept asking me, ‘can I take my dogs?’. I ended up letting people come and charged £10 an hour and paid tax on it. I had insurance.”

He said the dog park had been useful for people with reactive and rescue dogs and added: “All I’m trying to do is do something for the people of Sheffield.”

Mr Hill stressed: “I’m not here trying to destroy the green belt at all. I’m all for the green belt.”

He questioned the committee report, which said that the council’s own guidelines on the issue are out of date.

Coun officer Susan Hill explained that was why the application was judged against Government leglislation instead.

One supporter, Susan Powers, has three rescued street dogs. She said: “Where do you let your dogs off now? We can’t let them off in the parks.”

She said that Stannington, where she lives, is not a safe environment as she and friends feel threatened by people walking big dogs and some owners have been injured.

She added: “People are afraid to take their dogs out. The dog wardens are not interested, they don’t even come. The dog park is a dog heaven for all the people of Yorkshire to take their dogs safely to.”

Coun Mike Chaplin said: “The representations today are from people who are very passionate about finding a safe place to help socialise dogs. I wonder if there are other areas of Sheffield where that would be more appropriate?”

Coun Brian Holmshaw said: “It’s in the wrong place. That’s my opinion about it. I’m well aware there’s a need for it with the social isolation of dogs.”

Coun Peter Price stressed: “We do have a need to protect the green belt. It’s getting more and more desperate with every planning application that comes in.”

He added: “Once it becomes a commercial venture in the Rivelin Valley in the green belt, a place of high landscape value, I think it’s a step too far.”