No covenants on land near Herringthorpe Playing Fields earmarked for council housing says councillor

Rotherham Council has earmarked a site off Boswell Street for around 45 new homes with 30 of these available for council rent, in a bid to reduce the 6,500 strong waiting list.

However, a member of the public told today’s cabinet meeting that they believed the site is subject to an agreement from when it came under the council’s ownership which meant it could not be built on.

Henry Marston told the meeting: “In 1928, the council bought a large area of land with few restrictions.

“The council then identified parts of the land, which became the first part of what was to become Herringthorpe Playing Fields.

“The council agreement with the national playing fields association and Carnegie UK says the land will be held and used in perpetuity for the purpose for which they were acquired.

“The restriction clearly applies the proposed development site.”

However, councillor Sarah Allen, deputy leader and cabinet member for housing said that RMBC ‘had already looked’ at the 1928 plans, and had ‘not yet identified any plan associated with that legislation’.

“Our position remains that there are no covenants on the land,” added Councillor Allen.

“This scheme isn’t going anywhere near Herringthorpe Playing Fields. We’re talking about a site off Boswell Street.

“The officers are continuing to investigate this on behalf of the local community Should the council proceed, we would obviously be really really keen to involve the community in the design.”

Councillor Chris Read, leader of the council added: “The need to build more social housing and council housing that is affordable for our residents is an imperative for us.”

He added that RMBC faced a big challenge to provide housing for people in the borough who need ‘safe, warm, affordable homes’.

“Of course we want to do that in the right way, and in a way that’s sympathetic to communities. We will engage with residents to do that, but in order to make those kind of changes that we need to see in our borough….we are going to have to build houses.”