A familiar story is unfolding in the village of Steeton.

Developers have once again selected a greenfield site for a housing scheme and local residents are once again up in arms about it.

The scheme to build more than 200 houses on vacant farmland near Thornhill Road is yet another example of why the Telegraph & Argus teamed up with Heaton Township Association to launch the Save Our Green Spaces campaign.

There are scores of brownfield sites available around the district which are suitable for housing development, but despite this, greenfield sites are still being earmarked for large- scale schemes.

The land in this case is used by villagers as open space, to walk dogs and for other recreational uses.

Letters from 160 people were submitted in a bid to get village green status for the land, and more than 100 have been written objecting to the proposed 220 homes development by Redrow Homes (Yorkshire).

But despite this, the plan is continuing to go forward.

And the latest minor amendments made by the developers have done little to allay concerns.

Let us hope councillors look closely at the impact this scheme would have on the village when they consider whether or not to give it the go-ahead.

With a precedent already set when permission was granted for an alternative scheme for 229 homes, the omens are not good.

But we cannot keep allowing our green land to be sacrificed to the ever-growing demand for housing.