New proposal for Pocket Park site

Rotherham Council said the mini-green space would be completed by September 2021 but recently ditched its developer partner to take the work back in house.

The original plans had been to use £1 million from the Government’s Town Deal Accelerator on an overall £3 million development — eventually including 30 flats to the rear.

Demolition work took place in 2021 but no building work followed.

The target completion date was then changed to summer 2022 in the hope of using the park as part of the Women’s Euros fan parks last July.

There also had to be changes to the proposed food and drink outlets — only allowing hot food on several occasions a year because RMBC had not factored in its rule about takeaways within 800 metres of schools or colleges.

Now scaled-down plans have been submitted by the council for the Snail Yard pocket park with no scaffolding wall feature, which had been set to add a link to Snail Hill.

Primark closed its store in 2017 and the site was bought by RMBC three years later. Continued challenges in the construction market have been blamed for the delays.