BARNSLEY’S long-term blueprint for future developments - the ‘local plan’ - has never been far away from the Chronicle’s pages given just how important it is.

In a nutshell, many years ago now, it identified vast swathes of land which could be used to accommodate the seemingly unquenchable thirst for housing and more businesses to set up shop.

Barnsley’s position along the M1 corridor makes it a prime area for exactly that, so the council made much of it - particularly the 122-hectare area stretching from Dodworth’s junction to Haigh’s - available for would-be applicants to chance their arm.

It was codenamed ‘MU1’ more than a decade ago and it’s an enormously contentious site given much of it has been rolling greenery since its reclamation from its former mining purposes more than 60 years ago.

Put simply, it’s vast: it could yield 1,560 homes, business units, shops and a 420-space primary school.

One suitor, spearheaded by the undeniably impressive, ex-Sunderland Football Club owner Sir Bob Murray - who now fronts the Strata Sterling Barnsley West conglomerate behind MU1’s enormous development - has been extremely vocal on these pages about it being Barnsley’s chance to have a ‘defining moment’.

He says it will create and support thousands of new, high-quality jobs in the town as well as delivering around £1bn for the local economy over the decade-long build period.

Having interviewed Sir Bob, and followed the story throughout, it’s clear he’s a diligent, no-nonsense businessman who’s hell bent on seeing his scheme through.

However, on the other side, there are brilliant people - who have invited me into their homes - whose lives will be negatively impacted by such a huge scheme.

Their houses are lovely, their views are to die for, and so it doesn’t take long to see why they’re rightly annoyed by this audacious land-grab on their doorsteps. They simply do not want it and if you or I lived there, we wouldn’t, either.

A key part of it has been two now-reversed objections, one from National Highways and another from the Coal Authority.

The former objected - initially - on grounds that the current road network couldn’t cope, but the council then approved a new link road with roundabouts from Barugh Green to Higham (more on that later) which resulted in it being rescinded.

The main objection, in my eyes, was the Coal Authority’s.

They said, officially: “The Coal Authority is of the opinion that building over the top of, or in close proximity, to mine entries should be avoided wherever possible, even after they have been capped…”

But they then performed a U-turn and took away their objection.

I’ve interviewed many people whose homes border the site, but mainly the brilliant, 95-year-old Edward Raven, whose career was mainly spent being a pit manager on MU1 before its restoration to agricultural purposes.

Former mines such as Craven I, Craven II and Hunters’ Cottage - which are located in the northern, central and southern parts of MU1 respectively - had extensometers fitted in order to monitor ground stability and any movement following deep, borescope drilling.

Twelve mine entries within MU1 and a further two within 20 metres of the site boundary were found, but Mr Raven’s long-standing claims that gelignite ‘pills’ remain under the surface were quashed.

He maintains that the opencast sites used four tonnes of dynamite every week, leading him to claim - on multiple occasions - that MU1 simply was not safe for such a large-scale development.

Another admirable group - Keep It Green - formed in 2014 to battle the first notions of this, so that shows just how far it dates back. They’re of the same opinion: development on MU1 should not happen.

So, the fact that the council’s planning board have earmarked the two-phase scheme for approval at an ‘extraordinary’ meeting on Wednesday shows that they must have carried out their years-long investigations with absolute diligence.

I completely expect councillors on the planning board to grill the council’s bosses on their decision to earmark this scheme - which is as gigantic in size as it in is controversy - about everything that’s gone on over the last decade.

My opinion?

The council’s hands are tied by the government, basically, because ministers have implored local authorities to open up their precious greenery for development, so we must see that side.

But, as I said earlier, the new road was put in for a reason - cutting right through MU1’s heart - so you can imagine why so many campaigners believe this whole meeting is nothing but a foregone conclusion.

However, councillors in multiple wards along MU1 - of which there are many - should see the enormity of the opposition before predictably toeing the party line and instead vote with their hearts.

We’ll see what happens next week.