Plan for 60 new homes near Sheffield Parkway set to be rejected

Developers Langtree Group have applied for planning permission to build up to 64 new properties on land off Blue Mans Way in Catcliffe.

But a report to Rotherham Council’s planning board from council officers has recommended the application is refused.

It follows 70 letters of objection and a petition against the plans signed by 119 people being sent to the council.

Concerns were raised about the intention to open up Blue Mans Way, which is a cul-de-sac, to allow the extra homes to be built.

The properties would be built on 6.56 acres of green land, where semi-mature trees are currently planted.

Environmental health officers have also advised ‘any future occupiers will be affected by the noise from the nearby busy Sheffield Parkway’.

The report said: “The site is noisy in nature because of its location and this is demonstrated by the noise levels that were recorded and the fact that the applicant target levels can only be achieved with windows closed and passive ventilation systems installed.”

The report to the planning board recommended the scheme is refused due to concerns about the impact on the local environment.

It said: “The applicant has not demonstrated how the proposed development of the site will adequately compensate for the loss of a significant part of the Green Infrastructure asset, and has not demonstrated what alternative provision of equivalent community benefit and accessibility in respect of the Urban Greenspace to be lost would be made, or how the development would satisfactorily enhance the local Urban Greenspace provision.

“Furthermore the proposal would result in the loss of the majority of a developing woodland.

“It is accepted that the council cannot clearly demonstrate a five-year supply of housing but it is not considered that this would outweigh the significant impact that the proposed development would have on the local Green Infrastructure and allocated Urban Greenspace. It is recommended that planning permission be refused.”

The planning board are due to visit the site on Thursday, before returning to Rotherham Town Hall to discuss the application.