Package of planning applications could pave the way for 700 Rotherham homes

Permission could be granted for a package of planning applications which would create around 700 new homes across several sites across Rotherham, including the council’s own ambitions to spark a new market in ‘town centre living’ with three developments.
By Paul Whitehouse
Published 24th Oct 2019, 18:54 BST
Updated 25th Oct 2019, 17:40 BST

The council’s planning board members will be asked to decide on whether five different applications for homes should be given approval, with some of the applications ‘hybrid’, meaning some work would be sanctioned immediately, with others approved in principle for detailed decisions to be made later.The biggest would pave the way for 400 homes on site off Grange Lane in Maltby, which – if approved – would allow for 100 homes to be built immediately, with an ‘outline’ application for 300 more, meaning the details of house designs and layout of the site would have to be finalised later.Councillors would also be asked to impose a range of conditions, including signing over 25 per cent of the new homes as ‘affordable housing’ rather than being sold on the commercial market.There would be an expectation of £80,000 being committed by the developer for bus stop and junction work, with around £2,500 handed over for each house sold on the open market to help towards the impact on education services, with £500 per home also going towards helping improve sustainable transport in the area.A further application on a site off Wentworth Way, Dinnington, could provide 157 new homes if approved, with a suggested stipulation that a quarter of those are earmarked for affordable housing.Three other applications cover the former Henley’s garage site at Hollowgate/Welgate, the Sheffield Road car park and the old Millfold works in Westgate, where the council hopes to bring a range of houses and apartments to the town centre area. Its plans include using grants to help finance the redevelopment of the sites, which might otherwise be uneconomic to develop for housing.Some would be for open market sale, but most would be available for rent or shared ownership. The council believes it will help to jump-start a trend of people living close to the town centre, an idea which should become more attractive as regeneration work with developments such as Forge Island moving forwards, bringing a new cinema and restaurants to the area.The planning board meets on October 30.

Related topics:RotherhamCouncillorsMaltbyDinnington