Hermes "colossus" hub planned for South Yorkshire set to be rubber stamped by council

The the 363,000sq ft facility, named colossus, is proposed for land off Sheffield Road in Hoyland, Barnsley and could handle up to 1.3 million parcels a day.

The application incorporates 298,700sqft of warehousing, a three storey office block, parking spaces for 650 cars, 595 HGVs, 150 tractors and 60 cycle storage spaces.

Due for completion in 2022, the £60 million development will be the largest of its kind in Europe and will create around 1,300 new jobs in the area.

Martijn de Lange, CEO at Hermes, said: “The online shopping boom shows no sign of slowing down and we have just experienced our biggest Christmas period to date, handling in excess of 49.1 million parcels during December 2019 alone – significantly up from 39.5 million in December 2018.

“Our continued investment to strengthen our network and infrastructure across the UK is laying the foundations for future growth, creating more employment opportunities and confirming our position as an industry leader.”

However, the council has received a number of objections, including a petition which has gathered more than 1,700 signatures.

Petition organiser Mark Goodison said: "I think the council is making it categorically clear that the petition is not going to move them, even though it should do. They're not abiding by it."

He added that many residents are elderly, and do not have access to the internet, where the public consultation was held online.

"In my opinion, all they've approved is paper. As long as no building blocks have gone down I don't see why it can't be overturned.

"There's no infrastructure for any extra people. This place is going to crumble underneath itself."

However, a report to the council states: " The masterplan was publicised in accordance with the Council’s Statement of Community Involvement.

"Community involvement and publicity has been challenging throughout the current Covid 19 pandemic, but every effort has been made to undertake robust public consultation of the masterplan through online participation.”

The site was green belt land, until it was allocated for employment use in Barnsley Council's 2019 local plan, which has attracted objections.

Residents living nearby are also concerned about increased traffic, pollution, poor quality jobs, lack of infrastructure, and the size of the development.

The report to the council adds that the applicants state that 22 per cent of jobs will be management or team leader roles with a salary ofbetween £23K and £80K.