Council buys club on site of road plan

Officials admit causing problems for the owners of Pogmoor Club, on Pogmoor Road, because they have yet to choose a route for a proposed link from the M1 to the town centre.

Development in the area has been restricted because land on all proposed options for the route has been safeguarded until planners make up their minds.

Owners of the club, which has been closed for several years, had served the council a notice claiming the authority had blighted the land and must buy it.

The council challenged the notice and the matter was due to go before the Lands Tribunal.

But senior councillors have agreed to drop their opposition after receiving a report that an appeal would be costly and unlikely to succeed.

Negotiations on the sale will be based on the undisclosed market value of the club, which is to be demolished.

Cash for the purchase will come from funds raised from the sale of unwanted council land.

Pogmoor Club is on the route of the proposed Penny Pie road which would follow the railway line into Barnsley.

Other options for improving access to the town centre include making Dodworth Road into a dual carriageway.

Council leader Steve Houghton insisted the sale did not mean back door approval of the Penny Pie link road.

He said that if the site was not needed for a road, it could be used for the regeneration of the area or sold for housing.

But Independent Coun Bill Gaunt claimed the blight notice could have been avoided.

He added: “The authority’s drawn out decision-making means it is being forced into buying property it has no real need for.”