Plans for £200m Doncaster business park which could create 3.500 jobs given green light

Outline planning permission was granted for the development of 2.5 million sq feet of business units at a Bassetlaw District Council planning committee meeting in Worksop this week.

However, there were heated discussions about which area – Harworth or Styrrup – it falls into and if all neighbouring parish councils and residents had been consulted fully.

The 81-hectare site is listed as at Sunny Nook Farm, Blyth Road, Harworth, but the meeting resolved it is in Styrrup.

The number of jobs it would create was also questioned, while there was also concerns over the height of the buildings.

Councillor June Evans, a member of Harworth and Bircotes Town Council and the district council, said: “In the 1990s, the loss of three major employers in Harworth and more than 4,000 jobs had a devastating effect on the township and nearby settlements.

“This proposal offers in the longer term, more than 3,000 jobs, jobs people in this area need.”

A new road will link Bawtry Road and Blyth Road, and would include a “gateway” set aside for a pub, hotel or nursery.

A total of 131 letters of objection were received.

Coun Barry Bowles, district councillor for Blyth, said: “This proposed development is not in the parish of Harworth, it is in Styrrup. It has the biggest impact on the parish of Blyth and its residents.

“These parishes have been excluded from the consultation process.

“The developer only consulted Harworth council.”

Dan Mitchell, of Barton Willmore, representing the developer Howard (Retford), said: “The application has been subject to rigorous consultation and a lot of letters have gone out to the groups.

“What we want to demonstrate is the A1 corridor of Harworth, Bircotes and Bassetlaw is open for business.”