Barnsley’s Penny Pie Park railway line bridge approved

The bridge will link Penny Pie Park and Pogmoor Recreation Ground over the railway line, and create a safe crossing point for Horizon Community College pupils, and the general public.

Sheffield City Region approved £1.5m of funding for the bridge in January 2021.

The Sheffield to Huddersfield railway line between the parks will be temporarily closed while the bridge is under construction, but Barnsley Council say they will work “in accordance with Network Rail track possessions to minimise disruption”.

Coun Peter Fielding told the meeting today (April 13): “It is an excellent development and it is welcomed by the community – it should have happened years ago.

“At the moment, Horizon students have to travel all the way around Pogmoor Road. Parents will be able to drop their children off on Glendale Close. It’s a very tight cul-de-sac. If you get two or three cars at once, it gets really congested. We need to address this now, and not, as the report suggests, at a later date.

“Residents lives’ will be a misery – I don’t think there’s any doubt about it.”

Residents fear that the quiet neighbouring housing estate could become congested with extra traffic, lack of street lighting on the plans for people’s safety, and the potential for the bridge to be used as a “meeting or loitering point”.

Planning documents state that the bridge will be set away from residential properties, and would not be an “overbearing figure given its modest size”.

Bulkhead lighting has been included in the plans as a safety measure, and the documents add: “The use of the bridge would also not unreasonably increase noise and disturbance levels within the area given that it is a foot/cycle bridge.

The plans were approved at Barnsley Council’s virtual planning meeting on April 13.