Planners to hear fears over impact of new homes on Green Belt village in Rotherham

The former Cartwheel pub on Main Street, Brookhouse, is now used as a home and Rotherham Council is being asked for permission to demolish it and replace the building with two new homes, covering a similar amount of the site.

Council planning officers believe the redevelopment is acceptable because they say it is within the restrictions which surround building in the Green Belt, something which is much more tightly regulated than normal planning controls.

However, the proposals have attracted a wave of criticism and the final decision on whether it is allowed will be made by councillors on the authority’s planning board, where three residents are expected to address councillors in person.

Objections include concerns the new homes would be out of keeping with the rest of the village, which is made up largely of bungalows and the design has been criticised as looking “like a block of flats”.

Some want the existing building, which is historic, retained as it is regarded as a focal point.

Laughton-en-le-Mrothen Parish Council claim some information on the planning application is inaccurate, that parking facilities are not enough for homes of the size proposed and that the scheme represents an overdevelopment of the site.

Advice to councillors is that the development “is acceptable in principle as there is no resultant increase in volume on the site, rather a re-distribution through demolition of existing buildings and new build.

“In this regard the development would not have a greater impact on the opennes of the Green Belt than which currently exists at present and does not therefore represent inappropriate development.”