Rugby Club in new Herringthorpe Playing Fields floodlights bid

ROTHERHAM Rugby Club will again try for floodlights on Herringthorpe Playing Fields after lodging a planning appeal.

The proposal for ten, 15 metre columns was thrown out in February, but club officials are hopeful of a turnaround.

However, protesters maintain that designating a chunk of the land for amateur rugby is unfair to visitors who play other sports.

Director John McCormick said : “I’m very hopeful that this can still be a winner for Rotherham.

“It would make an enormous difference.

“We need a home for the club in order to help our ambition promoting better sport and facilities.”

Rotherham Borough Council’s planning board narrowly voted against the floodlights, saying it would cause extra noise and traffic problems for residents.

They also said the columns would have a detrimental impact on the area and light from the ten columns would be unacceptable to residents and wildlife.

In March the council voted to make the green space a Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge site, safeguarding the 96-acres as a leisure spot.

It adds extra restrictions on what can be done with the land but does not mean an end to applications for additions like the floodlights.

Kath Reeder, from action group Friends of Herringthorpe Playing Fields, said: “Our feelings are exactly the same as they always were.

This would deprive other children of a large area of the field, which is not right. And it wouldn’t stop with this.

“Hopefully people will make their feelings known like they did last time and we can stop it. I think everyone who’s been involved is hopeful."

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