GREEN Party co-leader Caroline Lucas said she wanted local people to believe in themselves that they could make a difference to planning matters during a visit to the district this weekend.

Speaking prior to meeting locals in Tong where campaigners are fighting to retain the green belt in Tong Valley, she said: “People care about green spaces.

“They know they are the lungs of a city and I want them to know that they have a voice to speak up against development that is not right.

“The Green Party is working towards keeping these spaces from development but local people can also help by objecting to green spaces being earmarked for houses.

“Help the Green Party help you,” she said. “When people add their voices together and get organised they can stop things happening. It’s not a case of Nimbyism but being sensible and looking at better alternatives. People need to believe what a difference they can make.”

She added her concerns that there would not be the infrastructure to cope with dense housing earmarked for Tong and an extension of Holme Wood into the green belt.

“These plans are a huge concern because of their size and the potential loss of green space.”

When it was suggested that some developers felt building on brownfield sites was too costly because of the expense of clearing away contaminated ground, she said, if this is the case, that the Government needs to be helping to decontaminate these brownfield sites to make them more appealing.

Ms Lucas met Rev Canon Gordon Dey, chairman and lead campaigner of the Tong and Fulneck Valley Association on Saturday and was also meeting people to hear their views.

He said: “It is very encouraging to have the support of a national figure.

“She had a grasp of the situation here. Protecting green belt land is something close to her heart.

“She said she would be doing everything she can to help us.

“It was good to have someone like that come to visit.”

Ms Lucas was elected the first leader of the Green Party in 2008 and was elected to represent the constituency of Brighton Pavilion in the 2010 general election.

She stood down as party leader in 2012 to devote more time to her parliamentary duties and focus on an ultimately successful campaign to be re-elected as an MP.

She returned to a party leadership role in September 2016, when she was elected as co-leader as part of a job-sharing arrangement with Jonathan Bartley.

She is known as a campaigner and writer on green economics, localisation, alternatives to globalisation, trade justice, animal welfare and food. In her time as a politician and activist, she has worked with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and think-tanks, including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Oxfam.