Plans for apartments on former Rotherham sports ground set to be approved

Members of Rotherham Council’s planning regulatory board are expected to approve an application for eight new apartments at the site of a former sports centre.

The former sports and social club which once stood on the land at Rockcliffe Road, Rawmarsh, was demolished by Rotherham Council in 2019, and has been fenced off from public access.

An application for 11 apartments was withdrawn last year,  following concerns about the high density, scale and design of the proposal.

If approved, a two-storey block would be built, made up on one and two bedroom apartments, as well as eight off-street parking spaces.

The applicant amended the original plans, reducing the apartments from 11 to eight, decreaing the building from three to two stoeys,  and reducing the number of front entrances from four to two.

Seven objections have been recieved by the council, including lack of parking, loss of privacy to the houses opposite, and “excessively large number of units relative to the site area available.”

However, in a report to the planning board, the officer states taht the application is “in accordance with the principles of the National Planning Policy Framework.

“The council considers this revised two storey scale and improved design to be of a significantly better appearance than the previous proposal.”

The application is recommended for approval at the board’s next virtual meeting on Thursday, March 18.