Plans to build 100 new homes in Barnsley suburb

Barratt Homes has been granted permission to build two to four bedroomed homes on 3.4 hectares of land at Low Valley Farm, off Pitt Street.

Access to the development will be taken from Pitt Street, on the condition that developers install speed bumps and warning signs to slow traffic.

Ten objections were submitted, on the grounds of exacerbating traffic problems and speeding on Pitt Street, flooding on the site and into Low Valley, overcrowding, loss of greenspace, not enough affordable houses, and the proposed houses being “too close” to homes on Pitt Street.

A number of ecological mitigations have been proposed by the developers, including bat and bird boxes, which was accepted by the council’s biodiversity officer.

To address surface run off on the site, Barratt has included an attenuation basin in the plans,

Under a S106 agreement, 10 per cent of the homes will be allocated affordable housing, and Barratt will contribute £102,888 for offsite investment in formalgreenspace, and £75,000 for sustainable travel.

During today’s planning meeting, councillor Robert Frost said that access from Pit Street onto George Street is a “bottleneck”.

Joe Jenkinson, head of planning at the council, said that land adjacent to the site was also considered for housing, but because of the traffic issues on George Street, the site was restricted to the 3.4 hectare area.

Councillor Trevor Smith, member for Darfield, said he”broadly supportive” of the application, and his main issue of surface run off would be “improved greatly” by the attenuation basin.

The plasn were approved unanimously following a vote.