Green light for Rother Valley caravan park plans

ROTHER Valley Country Park is on the road to self-sufficiency after plans for a caravan site were given the green light.

The overnight accommodation — including 129 pitches and 34 tent spaces — will complement the Gulliver’s Valley theme park.

And it will finally complete an original aim for the park to cater for caravanners, which was part of the original 1980s proposals.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Phil Gill, Rotherham Borough Council leisure and green spaces manager, said: “We can’t take the park for granted. 

“It takes considerable effort and cost to continue to provide good quality visitor facilities. In early days, council funding was sufficient but this is no longer the case. 

“Rather than scale back what we do and allow standards to fall, our strategy has been to work very hard to find new ways of generating income to supplement the falling levels of council funding.”

The country park has between 700,000 and 800,000 visitors each year and recent cash-generating additions have included a cycle centre, mini railway and a fleet of electric boats.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

These have helped bosses cover 90 per cent of the running costs this year — up from 60 per cent five years ago.

Mr Gill said: “A new caravan site will be another important step towards achieving self-sufficiency and assuring the future of the country park.

“However, it will be more than this. It will fulfil the original 1983 vision for the park, which included a caravan site next to Delves Lane that’s never been done.

“We know this will meet an existing demand because of the enquiries we get for overnight accommodation.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The plans include alterations to widen Mansfield Road to avoid queues caused by traffic turning right onto the caravan site access via Delves Lane.

Nineteen parking spaces will be added on South Terrace, near the site entrance, to offset the loss of 22 spaces at the front.

Planning board member Cllr Jenny Whysall, who represents Wales ward, said she had concerns about traffic and parking at the crossroads.

She added: “If the site’s full, there’s going to be a lot of traffic, and big, unwieldy traffic at that.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ian Ferguson, RMBC senior highways officer, said: “We don’t anticipate the development traffic would increase the potential capacity of the junction beyond its design capacity.

“The improvements have been designed to accommodate turning cars, 4x4s, towing caravans. The widening will allow for the stacking of additional right-turning vehicles, such that vehicles travelling south towards Rother Valley Country Park should not be delayed.”

The plans include two toilet and laundry blocks, a reception and cafe building and a children’s play area.

Green belt development rules permit projects which provide appropriate facilities for outdoor recreation or sport.

Work on Gulliver’s is set to begin this summer and the council hopes to have its caravan park ready before the theme park opens.

 

Related topics: