Lakeside housing development approved on former garden centre site in Manvers

Rotherham Council has approved a planning application to put 49 new homes on the site of the former Dearne Valley Garden Centre, off Station Road, which has been empty for some time.

Planning permission was granted for the principle of putting more accommodation on site in 2016, including apartments, but that was never progressed and the fresh application included a combination of semi-detached homes and town houses.

Those closest to Manvers Lake will be three storeys, with balconies to allow views across the water.

However, residents on the estate will be required to contribute to an annual payment of just over £4,000 to the Manvers Lake Trust, calculated on the size of the development site, to go towards costs of managing the area.

A management company will also be used to look after open green spaces within the estate, with residents also expected to contribute annually towards that expense.

There were no objections to the development, with councillors on the authority’s planning board told the area had been removed from ‘flood zone one’ status by the Environment Agency, following the completion of a scheme to prevent flooding.