Residents object to plans to extend car parking at proposed Hellaby warehouse off M18

The distribution centre, made up of two units, is set to be built on approximately 15.68ha of land between the J1 of the M18, Cumwell Lane and Sandy Lane to the south of Hellaby.

The original plans to build the warehouse, which developers say will create more than 100 full time jobs, attracted more than 200 objections before gaining approval from Rotherham Council in November 2020.

Now, Rotherham East development LTD, a subsidiary of Panattoni, hope to add a shared access point for cars and HGV’s.

Under the new plans, the southern access point in the original plans will be removed.

Developers have also applied for a condition limiting the number of car parking spaces to be removed.

Planning documents state that removing the southern access road would “increase the development traffic flow using the central or northern site access to 100 per cent.

“The additional six per cent of traffic accessing the site via the central or northern site access would equate to 186 vehicles and an increase of one per cent to the total vehicle flow on Cumwell Lane.”

The documents add that a “worst case scenario” would see a one percent increase in traffic flow on Cumwell Lane, “assuming that all vehicles were to access the site from the north, is expected to have a negligible effect on the potential changes in road traffic noise at nearby residential receptor locations.”

Objections have been received from 30 individual addresses, as well as from Maltby Town Council, Ravenfield Parish Council, Councillor Simon Ball, Councillor Janet Law and Alexander Stafford MP.

Residents say the plans will have highway safety implications, and lead to increased HGV traffic and increased congestion.

Alexander Stafford, MP for Rother Valley, said the proposals would: “lead to significant increased impacts on the road safety network,” and that removing a HGV access would “add to the existing projected traffic issues.”

“Noise and air pollution in Hellaby is already bad, any further increasewill have an adverse impact on local residents, in particular householdson Cumwell Lane,” he added.

The application will be decided at Rotherham Council planning board’s next meeting on November 25.