Rotherham: £4m scheme to clean up towns and villages approved

The towns and village fund was approved in March 2021, and RMBC announced last week which areas are in line for a share of the funding.

Councillor Denise Lelliott told the meeting that the funding was to recognise ‘the importance of outlying towns and villages, and it is a significant investment’.

Councillor Sarah Allen said the scheme ‘represents a great opportunity for members to develop their ideas and to work on engaging with those communities’.

“It is very much about increasing pride in places where people live, work and visit,” she added.

Councillor Chris Read, leader of the council, added that ‘one of the sad consequences of austerity’ was that services have been affected, which has led to a ‘sad degradation of local environment – just stuff that’s got worn out through more than a decade’.

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He said: “We think about town centre, and it’s quite right we have a big programme of regeneration right at the heart of the borough that we’ve championed.

Because of the decisions that we’ve taken over the course of the last 14 years, we’re now able to set some money aside specifically for physical improvements in district centres, which are all the places where people actually live.

“I think a lot of people will want to see us moving forward as quickly as we can to deliver those tangible benefits.”

The first round of projects include:

Off-road parking next to Brinsworth Lane shops Green space and the paved area outside Ridgeway Convenience Store at East Herringthorpe, A new ‘green link corridor’ between Greasbrough Park and Greasbrough Recreation Ground Off street parking at Laburnum Parade shops Improvements to the area outside of Masefield Road shops, and the refurbishment of Broadway shopping parade.

Other schemes are being considered, but are more complex, and ‘require positive working relationships between the council and the relevant landowner’.

Areas selected in this category include; the shopping parade at Aston and Todwick; Wellgate; Ravenfield Crossroads; Swinton Bridge; St. Johns Green in Keppel; Maltby High Street; Whiston Village Centre; Thurcroft High Street; and Bawtry Road shopping parade.