Major housing development to be approved in South Yorkshire

Persimmon Homes has applied for permission to build 311 homes on 11.73 hectares of land off Barnsley Road and Pontefract Road.

Vehicle access is proposed off Barnsley Road, and the properties will be a mix of two to five bed homes, 15 of which will be two-and-a-half stories.

If approved, the developer will be required to contribute more than £1m in S106 money for sustainable transport, new bus shelters and sport provision.

More than £600,000 of that money will be used to fund school places in the area.

Seventy-eight homes – 25 per cent of properties on the development – will be allocated as “affordable”.

A transport assessment concluded that “the proposed development would not result in a severe impact on the operation of the transport network, and that there are no substantive highway reasons why the proposal should not be granted planning consent”.

Although 20 trees will be removed for the development, seven will be planted elsewhere.

The developer proposes to plant new hedgerows, provide bat and bird boxes, and design a “sensitive” lighting scheme to mitigate any environmental impacts.

Air quality impacts as a result of traffic generated by the development were “not predicted to be significant at any sensitive location in the vicinity of the site”.

Objections were received from seven properties, as well as councillor David Roche and the British Horse Society.

Residents objected on the grounds of loss of privacy, wildlife and leisure space, and lack of infrastructure such as school and GP places.

Coun Roche has lodged his objection on the grounds of potential trafficissues and has requested to speak at the planning meeting where the development will be decided on November 3.

The British Horse Society asks that where cycle ways are proposed they are made into routes for all non-motorised users including horses.