£100m Waverley development go-ahead

But the Waverley plans made waves at a special meeting of Rotherham Borough Council’s planning board, with secondary school capacity, affordable housing and site management still causing concerns.

With Sheffield councillors having last week rejected calls from their officers to oppose plans for a 60,000 sq m office complex on the site, it appeared that the massive scheme had passed its biggest obstacle.

UK Coal’s chief executive, John Lloyd, told the meeting that the Waverley New Community scheme would be “an exciting and visionary development and one which you will be very proud of in the coming years”, adding that the site would be “physically, socially and environmentally sustainable.”

But the development, billed in a presentation video shown to the meeting as “the community of opportunity”, endured a rough ride at the hands of Rotherham councillors, who queued up to air their concerns.

Swinton councillor Neil License said he feared that the plans were too detailed and could be too structured.

“Things should be allowed to develop more organically,” he said. “I would like to see more traditional construction methods used as non-traditional methods can actually end up delivering tomorrow’s slums and housing that is not sustainable.”

The completed scheme will include: