Up to 300 homes planned on site of former Sheffield paper mill

Under the proposals, as many as 300 houses would be built within an ‘enclosed glen’ at Oughtibridge Mill.

The developer, Commercial Estates Group, also wants to open up the site to improve access to the surrounding woodland and to the River Don, creating new areas of open space and trails, walks and a cycling route.

A mix of housing types are envisaged, including two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom homes, along with a community hall, shop or workspace.

Consultation events will take place next Thursday in Oughtibridge, where early proposals will be on show at a public exhibition.

The mill closed in 2014, and the 110-acre site is currently home to 350,000 sq ft of empty warehouses, industrial buildings and offices. The site – on the edge of the Green Belt – straddles the Sheffield and Barnsley council areas, but any eventual planning application will be dealt with by Sheffield Council.

An environmental study submitted this week says the development would lead to the ‘removal of a relatively small area of land’ from the Green Belt, but that it is not considered the scheme will have a ‘significant impact’.

Originally known as Spring Grove Paper Mill, the site was established in 1871 and went on to become one of the area’s largest employers, employing several thousand people at its peak.

Paper production stopped in 2007 after the floods, leaving only processing and packaging of paper brought in from another mill in Lancashire. More than 150 jobs were lost when the mill closed for good.

Commercial Estates Group bought the site from Swedish paper group SCA last year.

In a document sent to residents, CEG said: “The Oughtibridge Mill Estate is currently home to vacant warehouses, industrial buildings and offices which are no longer suitable for modern employment purposes and CEG now aims to bring the site back into productive use for much-needed new housing.

“There is a fantastic opportunity to open up this beautiful waterside and woodland setting, enabling public access for the first time to new trails, walks and a cycling route.

It is envisaged that up to 300 new homes could sit within this enclosed glen, as well as a new community building, local shop or workspace and a new pedestrian route into Oughtibridge.”

When the sale of the land was announced in November, David Hodgson from CEG said the mill was ‘one of the prime housing development opportunities in Yorkshire’.

The events will take place in Oughtibridge next Thursday, January 21, from 2.30pm to 4.30pm at The Parish Centre on Church Street, and from 5.30pm to 8.30pm at the Wesleyan Reform Chapel on Church Street.

Meanwhile plans are being put forward for 150 homes on the site of the former Westfield School in Mosborough.

Residents have been sent letters by developer Miller Homes about proposals to build two, three and four-bedroom houses.

It is intended the properties will sit alongside a new £6 million football hub led by Sheffield Council and the Football Association.

It is almost a decade since Westfield School shut its Mosborough site. The secondary school moved two miles away to a new location on Eckington Road.