The final nail in the coffin?

I DON’T know how many of your readers have been to inspect the projected plans for future housing development in Rotherham but I really can recommend it, even if only for a good laugh. If anything has ever been written on the back of a fag packet, this is

In some ways, I pity Rotherham’s planners. They have been ordered, by central government, to find space for around 12,000 new houses which they themselves don’t really want. Let’s face it, they live in Rotherham too but surely they could have come up with something better than this. There are so many questions for which they simply do not have answers.

Only a small proportion will be built on brown field sites — the majority destined for green belt. The answer is that nearly all brown field sites are allocated for industrial/commercial development. Why should this be when it is likely that more than a million sq ft of factory/warehousing units lie unoccupied? Why do we need more? Is it beyond the wit of man to reclassify some of these vacant sites? Surely it is better than destroying important wildlife habitat.

Assuming a main aim is to find dwellings for people moving onto the housing ladder, why are so few of the proposed properties classed as “affordable housing” with the majority being built to normal market values and probably unsellable?

When it comes to individual proposed developments, council staff are equally vague when answering awkward questions. Let us take Lathe Road, off Bawtry Road, as an example. Seven hundred and 48 houses are proposed for the area overlooking the golf course, which begs the following questions:

1. Assuming average occupation, this site alone could bring an extra 1,500 children into the area. Where will they be educated as all local schools are full? Similar answers are required for doctors, dentists etc.

2. Bawtry Road is already a nightmare at peak hours. How will it accommodate up to 1,500 more vehicles? It is also a main access route to and from the hospital for emergency ambulances. How many people will die as a result of increased response times?

3. A huge area which is currently capable of absorbing rain water will be under tarmac, concrete, houses etc. resulting in greatly increased run-off in heavy rain. Assuming land drains will not cope, where will the excess go? The answer is first onto the golf course, making it unplayable and from there into Whiston Brook. I’m sure our council do not need reminding that houses alongside the brook are already at high risk of flooding — a situation which will be greatly exacerbated. I'm glad I don't live there.

When faced with these and other questions, the only responses given by planning department staff were vague references to the responsibilities of building contractors — or in other words they haven’t got a clue.

I sincerely hope everybody will attend one of the presentations, inspect the plans and let our council know exactly you think. Otherwise, if these proposals are allowed to proceed, it will be the final nail in Rotherham’s coffin.