Housing plan gets the green light

Councillors unanimously voted in favour of the proposal for 49 homes off Monksbridge Road.

Rotherham Council’s planning board heard last Thursday that the site will also include an area for several business units.

Further detailed applications must be submitted to the council for consideration before any building work can begin.

The site, which is split down the middle by Eels Mire Dike, used to be occupied a cement processing works, but is currently vacant.

The planning board was told that the site has residential properties to the north, off Outgang Lane, and to the west, off Rotherham Road.

To the east there is Monksbridge Trading Estate.

Councillors heard that the developers originally wanted to build 64 houses on the site, but after discussions with planning officers this was reduced to 49 to allow for more room between the proposed properties and the nearby existing industrial units.

They were told by a council planning official that providing additional accommodation in the Dinnington area along with the improvements to drainage, through the opening up of Eels Mire Dike, outweighs the loss of allocated employment land.

The site will have two access roads, one off Monksbridge Road and the other off Princess Street.

Although there will be no through road between either side of the site, over Eels Mire Dike, there will be a pedestrian bridge connecting the two sites.

Coun Andrew Roddison raised concerns about what would happen if the front of the site got flooded, effectively trapping residents.

“Is there somewhere you can get vehicles from the back of the site to the front in floods?”

“Can the applicants make the pathway (across Eels Mire Dike) accessible for single file traffic in an emergency evacuation?” Coun Roddison asked.

Laughton Common Tenants and Residents Association members also objected to the plans over concerns for flooding in the area.

The meeting was told that in extreme emergencies residents could leave on foot across the pedestrian bridge, and that by building on the site and improving drainage, flooding would be reduced in the area.

Coun Maggie Godfrey supported the application because she said it had the right balance between residential and employment use.