Housing estate gets go-ahead despite protests

Rotherham Borough Council has given the go-ahead for developer Taylor Wimpey’s application for the new housing estate off Harding Avenue in Upper Haugh.

More than 30 residents sent letters formally objecting to the scheme, saying that it would hugely extend the Manor Farm estate onto green land and increase traffic.

There was also concern about a multi-use games area to be placed under high voltage power lines and around an electricity pylon.

Other objectors said that the 278-home scheme was an example of urban sprawl and encroachment into countryside and pointed out that there was unlikely to be sufficient demand for the proposed homes.

But there was also a letter of support from Upper Haugh Cricket Club, who will benefit from the work by the management company who would maintain public areas on the new estate.

Planning officers said that Taylor Wimpey had “demonstrated a concerted effort to achieve a well designed scheme with character.”

But a planning report noted that the homes proposed would be “of a standard design and not reflective of Rotherham.”

It added: “No environmental features are proposed that would reduce the carbon footprint of the development and the designs of the property did not take advantage of any advances in technology or insulation.”

On the subject of the power lines, officers said that National Grid’s guidance was that there had been no scientific proof established that placing a games area near pylons or power wires posed any risk to health.

Outline permission was given three years ago for developing the ten-hectare field but Taylor Wimpey returned to the Planning Board for the consideration of detailed plans.

The development will include 21 affordable housing units, a shopping parade and a small village green, with plans showing that the buildings will stretch out as far as the Marquis pub.

It will be built in phases over several years and will include detached and semi-detached houses and apartments.