Councillor calls for more GPs, dentist and school places as decision over 300 extra homes in Maltby deferred

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council’s (RMBC) planning board were set to make a decision yesterday on the application for homes on Grange Lane but it was deferred until members had visited the site.

Work is under way on the first phase of the scheme to construct 100 homes, and this application hopes for permission to begin phases two, three and four, which includes 300 more.

Outline permission was granted for the scheme in 2020, and councillors are now being asked to approve the finalised details of the scheme.

Jones Homes will also be required to contribute £756,300 for additional school places at Maltby Academy.

When outline permission for the development was granted in 2020, Rotherham’s NHS Primary Care service said there was enough primary care provision, but that capacity for the whole site ‘may need to be looked into’.

An officer report states that upon asking for further details, the service ‘did not respond’ – so no medical provision will be provided.

Councillor Simon Ball, leader of the Rotherham Conservatives, told the local democracy reporting service: “You’re not putting any infrastructure in – where are they going to go?

“If the council is taking land out of greenfield, then they should have started investing in infrastructure, and not do it afterwards.”

Councillor Adam Tinsley called for the decision to be postponed during yesterday’s planning board meeting, and for councillors to visit the site first.

He told the meeting: “The main concern is the access to the development which is via Stainton Lane.

“There’s different speed limits, so I think it’s important that we look at that, because there is also a quarry down there with lorries”

Lisa Brooks, planning officer, said: “This application is a reserved matters application, so planning permission has been granted for 400 houses here.

“All we’re looking to determine today is the matters reserved by that outline, which relate to scale,appearance, landscape, and siting.

“Access does form part of that reserved matters, but an indicative location for the access on Stainton Lane was approved as part of the outline permission.”